Connection
Channel: Fairfield University
Date: 2022-05-20

A Conversation with Olivia Burke

My works are centered around the moon, addressing social justice with themes of womanhood, unity and identity.One painting, based on the poem The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin, includes two moons, representing the perspective of a calf whose two heads allow him to see twice as many celestial bodies.The moon is often characterized as a woman, with the sun being a man. One piece depicts the singer Mitski, inspired by her song “Your Best American Girl”, about not feeling that she fits into the American beauty or cultural ideal as someone who is from Japan. She describes her love interest, an American man, as the sun, and herself as “not the moon”. The moon being depicted as a woman also inspired my painting depicting various moon goddesses.The theme of the moon connecting us is expressed by people, non-human animals, and mythological figures all living in its presence, and by the knitted piece, inspired by the fact that everyone on Earth sees the same phase of the moon each day.

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