Holly Cuffe

My vision for my art is to create a space for storytelling, healing, and reflection. It is both a personal journey and an invitation for viewers to examine their own identities, relationships, and the unseen performances that shape our lives.

 

My artistic practice explores societal expectations, personal identity, and the quiet performances embedded in everyday life. Through paintings of cluttered kitchen sinks, vanity desks, and staged bedroom scenes, I examine how women navigate unseen labor and the pressures to conform to societal ideals, even in spaces meant for rest. While acts like wearing makeup or dressing up can bring joy, they remain entangled in frameworks of external validation.

Working across painting, photography, and performance, I create pieces that confront vulnerability and resilience.

 

I draw inspiration from artists like Nan Goldin, whose raw, unstaged photography captures the complexities of life, Amanda Coogan, for her theatrical and performative approach, and Larry Sultan, whose evocative still imagery tells layered stories.

 

In much of my recent work. I have been confronting personal experiences of violation and the fraught relationship I’ve had with my body. For years, Ive felt disconnected from my own body, societal ideals left me trapped in a cycle of comparison and inadequacy, compounded by moments of violation that deepened my disconnection. These experiences, though painful and past, have left an indelible mark. My art seeks to process this ongoing journey of healing and reclamation. It reflects on how trauma and struggles with self-image shape identity, gender, and power, long after the events themselves.

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