Self-Portrait 2018, by Meg Keetley

This drawing/intaglio print is a self-portrait. I often like to combine objects seeming from nature in my drawings with parts of the body in a sort of imagined space. This somewhat illustrates what it feels like to dream, and helps to put me in touch with that process of mind. I don't normally plan much initially when I begin a drawing, as I like to think of each added element as a sort of piece of a dialogue I'm having with myself, a call and response that works itself out / helps me to work through different emotions. This self portrait reminds me of a time where I went on a meditation retreat, where we were instructed to meditate 11 hours a day for 11 days, maintain no eye contact with anyone and to remain silent. I went sort of crazy on the 7th day and thought I could feel the size and shape of each of my major organs. Even though it was only 11 days without any social exchange, the experience was interesting but also kind of terrible and caused me to feel sad for people in solitary confinement. It gave me slightly more of an understanding of the struggle for sanity within those conditions.

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