"6 Months" by Juno El-Ebrashi

linocut print on mixed media paper

6'' by 7''

The linocut print series “Angsty Babies” showcases three baby picture portraits of myself at different ages, ranging from two months to three years old, each figure adorned with heavily tattooed skin. Much of my artistic practice is guided by the theme of coming-of-age and has consistently used tattoos as a subject and symbol for how I exercise my personal self expression. Continuing this theme, this body of work illustrates my personal relationship between discomfort and euphoria while growing up, emphasizing undertones of gender and body dysphoria, contrasted with the seemingly blissful naivete of my youth. For me, getting tattoos succeeds as reclamation of my body, gender, and self expression, as a way that I can make my body my own and make up for the detachment I felt towards myself and my body as a child. Carved on three small linoleum blocks, each print references a baby picture from my past as well as many tattoos I actually have gotten, such as the ankh on the figures’ biceps, many of which ultimately translate to personally sentimental symbols. The scale of the prints seeks to mirror physical photographs or polaroids one might find from their past, conveying a sense of nostalgia. Contrastingly, the irony of a heavily tattooed child aims to distort this blissful reminiscence in effort to ultimately fuse the past and present together. Through meticulously carved detail, this body of work offers my past up to strangers and encourages them to make sense of the symbols illustrated and the subsequent story told through them.