diamond tiara hurndon

diamond hurndon, Undisturbed, 2021, mixed media

Undisturbed

Inspired by Jackson’s Doubt & Imagination

What will happen

When I am long gone

When flesh and bone

Are buried in time?

Who will discover me

Who will retell my story

Who will decide how I lived

With the sparse reminders of my existence?

How long will what’s left

Lay undisturbed

Before its unearthed

Secrets laid bare

Who will impose their tall tales?

Their criticisms?

On the pieces of my legacy?

Perhaps

I would rather remain unfounded

Than exposed

By strangers who assume

My identity

My purpose

student statement

I decided to write a poem along with painting a scene from Jackson’s film. The poem addresses how I would feel personally about people I did not know digging up remnants of my life and trying to thrust their own meanings or interpretations upon it. I feel that it’s a far more personal approach than Jackson’s poem. I’m not really trying to get my audience to relate to my poem, but rather responding to Jackson themselves and stating my feelings. 

I felt it only appropriate to illustrate a frame from their film that stuck with me and that the image I decided to paint was a good companion to my poem. Like Jackson I decided emulate what they had done in their film: providing an image and overlaying text on top of it. Since I did not have technology at my disposal to blend the words into the painting seamlessly, I tried to make it look as though the background was bleeding onto the words with my acrylic paints.

diamond tiara hurndon

texas woman’s university
bachelor of fine arts candidate