Mark Rawlinson

Statement

My work reflects the experiences of a queer adult artist looking to heal his inner child. I have spent the past year going back to the roots of my teenage-self and embracing those artistic qualities I found "ugly" at that time. During my teenage years, my art was messy, unproportional, wrong, but most importantly it was fun. I enjoyed sitting in the bathroom stall doodling on my phone. It was therapeutic. I was in the act of creating my best work and didn't even realize it.

Since then, I have made myself a reminder to continue creating art in ways that are meaningful to me. I love exploring ideas of gender identity, self-acceptance, and feelings of "losing your teenage years" as a trans individual. I aim to make my work as imperfect as possible, as I believe imperfection is the greatest thing to come out of humanity.