Lesley Silvia is a multidisciplinary artist who really likes color and texture. Come for the pretty colors. Stay for the gory details. Silvia is interested in contemporary forms of hysteria, specifically the ways in which mental illness complicates communication and creates dysfunction in human connections. She uses animals as a surrogate for corporeal bodies and terror related to gendered power. Because animals are easier to look at when we’re staring into a mirror. Show the officer on the doll where the bad man touched you. Animals also boil down human characteristics cleanly. Lastly, animals pull at Western heart strings in a way that is pure when compared to the complications of human relationships. A lot of people have Mom Issues. Few people have Dog Issues. Your dog never drank too much or said you weren’t as talented as your sister.

She is influenced by news stories, op-ed articles, or observations in friends’ behavior, stereotypes, power struggles, relationship hurdles, and the existential exploration of the self. Her work serves to open up the conversation about the human embodiment of identity; through trauma, privilege, power, and manipulation how is our identity even formed?

Lesley Silvia currently lives in central Florida with her writer husband, two cats she puts bandanas on, and a neurotic dog.

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