Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art

Reader 1

Kasper Kovitz

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© 2024 Ella R Skinner

Abstract

My work emphasizes telling a specific narrative through individual, page-by-page illustrations. In my work, I take the traditional religious text Judith and Holofernes and subvert it into my own, contemporary narrative. I take on the story of Judith to explore the nature of eroticism and femininity with a progressively disquieting undertone. In my series, Judith, I situate two non-male figures in a soft, loving relationship, representative of Judith and Holofernes in the original story. As this progresses, a new narrative begins to take precedence that incorporates increasing levels of violence and manipulation, stemming from the “Holofernes” lover, coupled with more erotic undertones to unsettle the viewer. The final illustrations specifically capture the beheading scene in Judith and Holofernes, but this will extend into the full narrative as it develops in the Spring, along with its collectivization into a single-edition, hand-bound book. With this project, I intend for a wide audience to recognize the contrast between the original story and the new one, but also for Jewish viewers to grasp an additional layer of storytelling. In terms of medium, my current focus is experimentation with graphite and its different qualities. I really enjoy the variety of texture and line that can happen within such a simple medium, and I love to combine soft graphite powder with the thin, detailed line work of a mechanical pencil.

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