Fiona Murphy
SENIOR THESIS ART EXHIBITION
Fiona Murphy
Chicago, IL
Artist Statement
A spirit emerged in my life one day in the fall of 2021. I call this figure Baghead. They are a Catholic altar server, a role I also played in my childhood, and they sit with me while I doodle in my notebooks and readings. Sometimes, they scratch at my brain at odd hours of the night, and at other times, they hum hypnotic songs until I fall asleep. They tell me I am their rock, and I tell them the same, only I mean it in the way a parent depends on their child. They tell me about this girl they’re obsessed with – they call her Birdie – and I tell them to be careful. Obsession is a nasty beast when it gets too deep. They always shake their head, though, and reassure me there’s nothing wrong with a little idolatry. It pays to be Catholic, sometimes, I joke. They laugh, but I can’t bring myself to join in. I still don’t know my relationship to faith.
My piece is called I can’t help myself, and it’s about helplessness, indulgence, love, and deconstructed relationships with religion. It is fashioned after Catholic altarpieces and icon paintings, only it features the subversive medium of comics in the place of paintings, in the place of the holy…whatever that is.
I extend my thanks to the Steven Daniel Smallen Memorial Fund for their generous support, and to Amy Brener for her mentorship.