Ariella Gibson

Ariella Gibson is an American born artist and photographer. In 2013 she received her BFA with a concentration in Photography from Memphis College of Art. Her work investigates subjects at a level below the surface, literally or metaphorically. Through intimate documentation of the visceral and emotional, Ariella explores shared mental spaces. Her work has been exhibited nationally and she currently lives and works in Northwest Arkansas. This summer she will begin her MFA in Photography at Hartford Art School. 

Project Statement 

Born explores the significance and complexity of childbirth. People involved in a birth are torn between negative and positive emotions, a strange mixture of happiness and pain, worry and excitement, anticipation and dread. This series puts an emphasis on the physical byproducts of birth to symbolize these kinds of conflicting emotions. They are both kinds of interiors becoming exteriors, our insides emerge outside. The visceral natures of the byproducts of birth are important tools for evoking a reaction in the viewer. Feminist theory attributes sexism partially to women’s inevitable relationship to the abject. By elevating abject imagery to fine art, the series deconstructs the taboos associated with birth and the female body.