Kera DeRoo
Drawing
Within my practice I have been exploring the different species of flowers and how they operate in connection to emotions and ideas centered around mental health. Flowers can be used as a way of communication and be given to others with the intent of a specific meaning, my paintings are meant to operate in the same way, a bouquet of flowers given to the viewer.
In Full Bloom
In Full Bloom showcases a selection of paintings featuring a verity of different flowers and how they can be used to communicate vastly different emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Bright and colorful flowers placed together to form a garden, the individual collections of flowers each have a different story and tie to an element of mental health, the positive and the negative.
2024
Acrylic paint and modeling paste of canvas
'Garden of Isolation' is composed of five different species of flowers that are related to the feeling of loneliness and isolation. The garden includes Butterfly weed, Yellow Chrysanthemum, Purple Hyacinth, Bleeding Hearts, and Cyclamens. The painting main goal is to highlight the feelings of isolation, even when in a social gathering or public space.
2024
Acrylic paint and modeling paste on canvas
'Garden of Resentment' explores the idea of self-hatred and self-resentment, in relation to aspects of mental health. Each of the pictured flowers are related to different histories with elements of hate and resentment. The flowers featured are, Tiger Lilies, Monkshood, Foxglove, Black Dahlias, and Petunias.
2024
Acrylic paint and modeling paste on canvas
'Garden of Joy' is meant to highlight the highs that come along the lows of life, emotionally and physically. Often times we only turn to the negative of our past rather than highlighting and focusing on the good and the joy that coexist with the negative.
Take Part
Take Part, shows different participation-based artworks, that invite the viewer to interact with the artwork, and in some cases take some of that artwork home with them.
2023
'Forget-Me-Not (Take Me Home)' consisted of over six hundred handmade and painted forget-me-not flowers. The forget-me-not flower is associated with many different elements of mental health and memory. Viewers were encouraged to take the flowers home with them, either as a reminder to themselves that someone is thinking of them, or for them to give to another person who they think needs the reminder that they have not been forgotten.
2023
'Quilt Cloak' is created using found and collected fabrics associated with memories of my family and memories. The cloak is a wearable quilt, that can be transformed into a functional blanket, the work was created with the idea of creating a mobile safe space, a space of comfort. When displayed the viewer is invited to try on the cloak and share in the idea of a safe space.
2023
'Operation' was created to showcase the effects that anxiety has on the body in a physical way. Often mental health conditions are said to only have effects on the mind, however mental health also has an impact on the physical body. 'Operation' shows how six different vital organs are affected by anxiety, each of the organs is interactable and can be removed from the wall to reveal a small text box explaining the different ways that anxiety impacts that organ.