/Aldona Casey
Aldona Casey
College of the Holy Cross, 2024, Studio Art, English
A Holy Trinity
spray paint, acrylic paint, printmaking, and colored pencil on masonite board
52” x 24”
2023
This triptych appropriates Christian artistic tradition to break down the patriarchal lineage that has been so valued and to rebuild something that celebrates women. My scenes show a mother figure, a daughter figure, and a Holy Spirit figure. The first figure holds a rosary and her gaze is averted from the central figure. The middle figure references Jesus in his most iconic position: that of him being crucified. There is a sense of vulnerability, but also freedom. The final character bites an apple, the notorious symbol for sin. I used a linocut of two crocuses for the background.
Aldona Casey
College of the Holy Cross, 2024, Studio Art and English
Second and Third Place Horses
bronze, sterling silver, and cotton cord
3.5″ x 7″
2022
This necklace was inspired by the Palio races that happen bi-annually in Siena, Italy. Horses are extremely important to Sienese culture and are revered for their role in the Palio. During my time there I took a metal-smithing class and this was my “wax” project. Using files and a curled saw blade I carved a horse out of a block of wax. The wax charm was made into a special mold and had molten silver and brass poured into the mold. I soldered silver rings to attach the three horses and cut a wax-cover cotton cord for the necklace bit.
Aldona Casey
Love is Holy
plexiglass and resin
18” x 24”
2024
I appropriated the Christian tradition of stained glass and superimposed gay women living together. I began by drawing the image with a sharpie to create bold shapes that were scanned into Adobe Illustrator. The shapes were then cut into plexiglass using a laser printer, and I individually secured each piece to a sheet of plexiglass by applying resin with a toothpick. I draw from my own experiences as a queer woman raised in a Southern Christian household to create self-portraits that explore the body as a form of communication. With this, I wanted to recontextualize queerness as holy.
Aldona Casey
Ravished
Inspired by: Justin Walker, Daddy Bruce
spray paint and acrylic paint on stretched canvas
18” x 24”
2024
Walker’s piece places an unappetizing meal next to a helpless woman equating her, visually and narratively, to meat. I have created lesbian imagery, a pornographic category devoured by men, as the “meat” of my piece. Walker’s character has no autonomy or control as to where the viewer gazes, similarly, the eyes in my piece eat away at the privacy of the characters. I incorporated food into the literal fabric and infrastructure of my piece. The pomegranate carpet suggests sexuality, placed directly under the bed with a bright yellow and red pattern. The pear wallpaper is overbearing, wrapping around the characters.