In My Bones

I've been told by many that my obsession with skeletons is creepy and weird, and that my drawings are unnerving. Saying "I like to draw skeletons" definitely raises a few eyebrows. So, I thought, that if you look on the surface, they'd be perfect for Halloween!

However, if you look deeper, they have a completely different vibe. I'm obsessed with drawing skeletons because, to me, it is intriguing. There's something so raw and real, yet stark and cold about the human skeleton. It's an enigma in a way. But it's also beautiful and comforting (again, the enigma). Because it's us. It's what we're made of. Our bones were made just to hold us up. And that's beautiful.

I've struggled with body image for a lot of my life. As do a lot of us. There's a certain image that is deemed acceptable, and we're so exposed to it, we believe that is the only way to look.

But your bones don't care about how you look. They hold you up, anyways.

Okay, maybe I'm also a bit into cemeteries. But I'm definitely not an emo kid who thinks death is an edgy topic of conversation. I like this idea that it doesn't matter who you are when you're alive. Black or white, straight or gay, tall, short, whatever. We all end up in the dirt, side by side. Because, really, everyone is the same. (If you tell conservatives that, they really just freak out and it's fun to watch. Good argument against homophobia and racism, I say!)

So, yeah. Human skeletons are beautiful to me. Because they're the structures for us; for our souls.

You can take this to be a spooky Halloween post. Or something else.

Art tends to become everyone's individual perceptions. What's yours?

(P.S check out In My Bones by Oliver Hoare & the late great. You won't regret it!)

All art by Maddy Hart.

Happy Halloween guys!