Helen Goodwin

The body: a collection of sensations and experiences is a series of five paintings that asked five people, “How does it feel to be in your body?” Each portrait is a response to this question. This line of inquiry stems from an exploration into the concept of Phenomenology. This made me consider how each person has a unique experience of consciousness and how this is held as memory and narrative in the body. I am interested in exploring the contradiction between the external presentation of the self and how this is contrasted with the lived and felt experience of the self.

My process of painting begins with listening to my subjects and translating the verbal to the visual with the intent of creating a visceral experience for the viewer. Working intuitively, I aim to re-present the lived experience of the other.