Josh Mettille
Reflections
This body of work takes an introspective look at the stages of my life through abstracted figures of various birds. These winged creatures represent major parts of my past, present, and future life. Having a childhood where I was always surrounded by nature, my work reproduces these familiar images in the form of birds as a symbol for my experiences. The way my work is created also is specific to my theme of life being extremely complicated and multifaceted. There are many different curves and angles depicted, often going in certain directions we never expected. Sometimes we have to look at things a certain way to really see the bigger picture.
This concept is important to me because it is about my journey and the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. I want to share my story and who I am through my art. We tell stories as a way to add to the collective history of all human experiences. What do we want to be remembered for? What are we leaving behind? These are questions I am wrestling with as I create my work.
Our understanding of the world around is based on the stories we inhabit and share. Our pasts are a way to learn and grow from those experiences. Hopefully viewers can find some commonalities between their stories and mine, and recognize the importance of learning other peoples’ stories.
