McHarg, Esme

Esme McHarg 

Loss of Identify 

16x20 

Acrylic Paint 

NFS

Bio: Hi my name is Esme McHarg, I'm a Mexican-American artist who enjoys trying out a lot of different mediums of art but acrylic paints have so far been my favorite. Art has always been something I've loved doing, its helped me express myself when words couldn't. I hope I can use my art to help others find comfort and a sense of understanding and belonging with others or within themselves. I'm currently on the path to getting a bachelor's in animation to help me pursue that dream of helping people find a place of comfort in art. 

Artist Statement: This is an acrylic painting done on canvas. For the theme of Rite of Passage, I choose to interpret it in a really personal way. My piece deals with my struggle to fit into my predominantly white and not-as-full-of-body hair peers. My body hair has always been something I've struggled with, because of it I've covered whatever portions of my skin were visible to the point of wearing hoodies during the summer. I've felt isolated and out of place with my feminine-presenting peers in the locker rooms while we had to get changed for PE. Because of my intense insecurities and comments made by my classmates about my body hair, I started shaving what my mother would allow me to shave, my legs and face. This was the Rite of Passage I felt I had to go through to finally fit in with my peers, and it worked, the next day in PE I was celebrated and congratulated for finally shaving and getting rid of my abundant amount of leg hair. At the moment it felt good to be part of the girls around me but later when I got home I felt like I had lost something and I did, I lost a part of me that made me me, that connected me with my past Mexican relatives that also shared the same abundance of body hair that I did. I had regretted shaving my hair, to this day I still kind of do but I don't blame little me for wanting to fit in. I've grown to be more accepting of my body hair, I'm learning to love it. I'm slowly trying to wear more clothes that can show off my body hair. Seeing other Hispanic women having body hair and being proud to show it off has honestly been such a help and I also want to help younger people like me who also had to go through the struggle of accepting their body hair. It's normal and it's ours, it makes us beautiful and unique, it connects us with our family and our culture. The Calupoh, Mexican wolf-dog, represents me disconnecting from my culture, family, and self by the loss of hair. The arm on the top represents older me accepting my body hair. The arm on the bottom represents younger me and how my identity was slipping through my fingers.