Artist Statement

Emersyn Harriman

Angels are a well-known staple of numerous religions. In countless forms of media, angels have been represented as benevolent, grand, and beautiful figures with the wings of birds. They are known to be guardians, navigators, messengers, attendants of God and protectors of mortals. Why then, exactly, do angels introduce themselves with "Do not be afraid" when appearing?
For my sustained investigation this year, I took the stereotypical depiction of an angel and evolved it gradually into beings that would have a reason to say "Do not be afraid." I grew up in a family belonging to a dozen varied religions and denominations, and religion has always been a fascinating subject to me. While angels are clichéd as gorgeous humans with wings, there's no proof in any religious text that this is what they definitively looked like; therefore, angels could've very well been a sight to be feared. The works begin with the typical angel: a pretty human with wings, posing elegantly. They transform and gain and lose eyes and limbs, they smile with too many teeth, they look grotesque and unrecognizable as human, they can't be comprehended and are truly feared.
The mediums I worked in were ink, marker, pen, gel, graphite, and digital. I layered and blended mediums on top of each other to give the figures in the pieces form and value; since the works in the series are entirely black and white, with accents of gold in the form of halos, it was a challenge finding ways to differentiate textures and objects using just gray materials. The gold is a tribute to the use of gold leaf that was prevalent in traditional Eastern Christian art and icons. Alongside this, the gold is layered on top of a completely grayscale piece to create emphasis and continuity throughout all the works in the series, and to remind you that what you're looking at is still an angel, no matter how twisted or unconventional.