I would LOVE to tell you all that this piece contains within it a deep and meaningful message, and I would also LOVE to tell you that in making this piece I was driven to dive into the depths of my soul to do battle with my shadow self. I would LOVE to tell you these things because then I could feel acknowledged. Seen. Understood and recognized within the public consciousness. Alas, I cannot – in good faith - tell you any of these things. There is no deeper meaning, there was no dark night of the soul. There was just what always has been: my slightly sleep deprived mind given the right ingredients for a pun, which I could then make into a dumb analogy. It did not hurt that I also had a medium to draw my doodles on. So, less of a perfect scientific formula and more of an imperfect recipe for a meal that is prepared mostly by feel and taste. “Lefsa Be Friends” is not about the big, revolutionary changes that we need to make as a civilization, but more about the radical and totally punk-rock/metal small every-day changes that we can make in order to be as excellent to each other as we possibly can be. Because, and yes I am going to end this artist statement with a quote: “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” – George Eliot, Middlemarch

-Æ (Ash) Edmonds, Winter Cohort 2023

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