Crystal Coffey
Artist Statement
This is a story about a purple coyote struggling with the fear of what others would think of her if she revealed that she is a Christian. This coyote represents me. Throughout the story she goes through hiding herself, silencing herself, listening to lies about herself, and even caging herself until she has enough of how she is living her life and cries out to be set free. Afterward, she gets set free from her cage, leaving behind the chains she ended up in.
Additionally, there is symbolism that gives a deeper meaning throughout the story. For example, when the character turns into a grey coyote with a bit of purple remaining on her. This would symbolize that even though the character is trying to change herself to fit in with the wolf characters there are still parts of her true self leaking out. Another example of symbolism is the character looking through a screen to signify that she feels as if she is on the outside looking in, not really belonging with the wolves she is interacting with. Additionally, it also can even signify the idea of social media, for the fear about sharing my faith mostly came from interacting with people on social media. One last example is that the wolves symbolize the friends that I have who do not believe in Christ. This shows that the character is specifically afraid of bringing up the topic of her faith in Christ to those who do not
believe in Him, worrying that they will kick her out of the group if she did so.
This topic is important to me because in a way this is a testimony about how I was set free from the fear of telling others about my faith. Even though I still struggle with it at times, I’ve chosen that I don’t want to be in that cage anymore and don’t want to live this life speechless. Additionally, the pieces of this story are based on a poem that I wrote in 2020 – 2021, which will be heard at the show’s talk.
