Grievous Injuries

American artist Cynthia Thompson is nationally known for her editioned prints, handmade books, and paper-pulp sculpture that explore ideas on religion, beauty, grief, personal identity, and body-centered guilt. Using techniques that include screenprinting, letterpress, embossing, and digital printing, she produces subtle, but evocative images and forms that are highly personal, yet communicate universal messages about how women perceive themselves in contemporary American society, particularly as seen through the lens of religious authority and teachings. In describing her artistic approach, Thompson wrote: My work contains strong religious undertones and has often been described as Catholic in nature. I am interested in addressing how religion plays a part in constructing body image and sexual identity. The surfaces and materials I use in my work refer to skin or flesh. Using the body as the site of intense investigation, I explore the physical manifestations of denial, shame, and oppression—how internal pain and oppression register externally on the body. In particular, I share my own experience of having grown up female in the religious South. I am in a sense putting on display shameful things as a means of addressing my own concerns with beauty, vulnerability, imperfection, and guilt.