Feeling is a skill

Ann Dawkins

Artist Statement:  My work uses the language of thick oil paint to describe the visceral and fleshy qualities of exposed, neglected, and partially consumed fruit as a representation of the vulnerable and uncontrollable physicality of the human body. As a human, it can often feel that your body is an external object that is not within your control; that your physical being is a prison or an enemy that is unpredictable and susceptible to outside forces of objectification, deception, and dysfunction. Fruit is often used in connection, spanning back to biblical times, with women, their sins, and sexuality, as well as their ability to produce life. The term fleshy is used only to describe fruit and the human body, often women’s bodies, which are deemed “soft and thick” just like the tissue of a fruit. 
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The work manifested through my own experiences with trauma and chronic pain.  It is through these internal struggles that I connect to larger societal issues about the way we treat bodies in the world.  

About the Artist:  Ann Dawkins is an artist from Louisville KY. She received her MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2019 and her BFA from the University of Louisville in 2013. She was previously the Visiting Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Oklahoma State University. Ann’s work has been shown nationally, including exhibitions in Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and St. Louis. Her research has received recognition in the form of an Artist Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women in 2022 and 2015. In 2022 she had a solo exhibition entitled Fruit/Bodies at Garner Narrative in Louisville.