2009 IB HL Visual Art Exhibition: Valerie Servais

Expression has been an aspect of interest to me because it has an ability to help us articulate emotions and thoughts. I experienced fatigue in revealing my expressions, frustration with suppressed emotion, beauty through the voice of body and hate towards the mask that has the inability to reveal the truth. I found that we’ve all been shaped into a mask that is labeled as acceptable to society and although on the surface you find something, there’s still that indescribable character inside you that is too fragile to come out. I wanted to portray how there is much more under the surface that we’ve forgotten to notice. As if we’ve have forgotten the meaning of trust, promises, words, friends and even love.

My greatest fear was expression. This fear somehow built to a need to let go and portray my emotion. This brought me to discover and develop this idea of expression. Through observation and experience with dance I found that expression through the body and sound is one of the most powerful forms of truth.

Observing the human body was the research time best spent. Through my constant study of movement, I was able to understand the body’s anatomy and this allowed me to understand another language of expression. Artist such as Oldrich Kulhanek truly influenced me and helped me understand the importance of capturing the body’s movement. In addition artists such as contemporary choreographers Mia Myers and Wade Robson have truly brought forth so much expression through their dance pieces to a point were I could interpret every movement and relate to that emotion presented through the body.

Through this whole process I feel that my greatest accomplishment was that through revealing these masks I’ve been able to rid some of my own.