Back to all artistsRita Sayegh
Pieces
About
Rita Sayegh is a painter and visual artist from Lansing, Mich. — originally from Baghdad, Iraq — who works primarily in acrylic, watercolor, collage and digital media. She is an alum of the University of Michigan, where she majored in sociology with a focus on law, justice and social change through LSA and minored in English. Rita’s work can be found on her Instagram @artsiesbyrita.
Artist's Statement
I have been making art as far back as I can remember, but have only recently been implementing art into my professional and everyday life.
When interpreting the idea of respiration, I wanted to focus on the action of breathing. When you take a breath, it is almost like taking a second to focus on being alive and grounded — to focus on being in the moment. In our society, we are conditioned to constantly be on the go, and our worth is almost measured only by what we produce. This feeling of being rushed and constantly thinking of the future can be very suffocating, which is represented by my main subject being choked by her own hand. The clock in the top right corner exists to emphasize the idea of living in the moment and to remember to be here presently.
This work was inspired by the piece that I submitted for the last Miseducation Project exhibition — almost like a series. The two pieces have a similar artistic style of multimedia, with the newspaper collage and acrylic paint. Although they have different themes, they share the same sub-ideas of society and perception, and have a strong element of socialization.