Symbolic Portraits

Alivia’s work has always centered around personal symbolism. For many years she explored her own visual language in abstract and mixed media work, eventually creating a pictorial vocabulary used throughout her work. The evolution of her focus shifted from inward to outward asking, “How can I create a ‘formula’ to allow me to do the same type of work centered around others?”. That was when a list of questions was born. Friends and patrons are able to give short simple answers, or deep self reflective answers to a curated list of questions. The answers help guide the direction of the piece.. Every person’s answers are different and specific to their experiences, perspectives and comfort levels. Truly there is never a wrong answer. This isn’t just about one’s physical presence, but their mental and emotional space too.

Based off of a specifically crafted list of questions, Alivia will apply this once very personal process to other individuals. These unique and personal portraits are all centered around the participants/subjects answers to a short questionnaire.

The majority of these portraits to date, have been based around incorporating multiple family members iconography into one piece. Usually, the parents are shown on the left and right, while the children are focused in the middle.