Helen Ives

Artist in The Little Things Art Exhibition

Artist Statement

I focused on the smallest details visible to the human eye on my very own body. The carvings are blown up depictions of the minutiae of very own finger prints. Not only are the carvings an exploration of something physically little, but they are also thinking about what it means to be human. As I was making them, I was thinking about recent Missouri legislation and the debate of transgender rights. It’s frustrating that so much of what makes up who we are is judged so harshly, when all we really physically are are the marks we leave behind. Fingerprints don’t leave behind the “contentious” details of a person that let others judge and belittle them, they are merely marks of someones humanity. And they exist on each and every one of us.