Catie Constas 

the heaviness on my heart

2025

Liquid latex, resin, pumice gel, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, alcohol ink, yarn, lace, ribbon, 

laser-cut wooden dollhouse furniture sheets, artist’s hair, dental mold of artist’s mother’s mouth

35”h x 16”w

Artist Statement:

In moments of difficulty, acts of violence and harm upon the body will sometimes take the place of preferable acts of creation, decoration and care. The tension between caring for oneself and putting oneself in harm's way reoccur everyday in the decisions we make, and as a vessel for both care and harm, the body continually cycles between these experiences. The result is a bodily form marked by ephemera, beauty, and aches of wear and tear. the heaviness on my heart seeks to represent the common pains of memory and the body, and the weight we all carry with us, both physically and mentally.

The synthetic skin is hand-stitched and held together by yarn, mounted on an empty sheet of dollhouse furniture, hanging from a mold of the artist’s mother’s teeth. It is both gorgeous and grotesque, much like the artist’s feelings towards themselves, their memories and their body. The precarity of life and the constant need for self preservation is at once a distant memory, and a constant weight. It is through acts of creation, decoration, and care to ourselves (and those around us) that we can begin to ease this heaviness.