Auction #18: Let Down Your Hair

Originally, I’d planned (and started!) a much different sort of piece, a sort of layered collage. It kept not wanting to go in the direction I had for it, so I finally realized that the image I had in my head was not going to come out just yet, if ever. Instead, I thought about the visceral images in the story, the bits and phrases that kept sticking with me. I kept thinking of how the woman in the story was introduced—earthy and organic, intoxicating in her wildness, in her refusal to be bound by convention. She struck me as strong and independent, fierce and primal, trying to pass for normal but unable to hide the truth of herself. I think a lot of women are like that.

It also made me think about strong women who sabotage themselves one way or another, how we will often give up innate parts of ourselves to make our partners happy, how we suppress our more feral sides to make our lives run smoother. I wanted to create a piece that would allow someone to tap into that wildness inside, to channel it into coming out . . . just a little bit.

Erica Olson