Letting the subconscious mind speak through art

Ottavia McHenry is an artist specializing in assemblage and collage. She was born and raised in Italy, then later in Belgium, before relocating to the United States in 2012.

McHenry uses cigar boxes, various self-taught mixed media techniques and found objects to create artwork that doesn't fit in the traditional categories of either paintings or sculptures.

She brings significance and unifies otherwise disparate objects, images and ephemera. This gathering and assembling, in conjunction with her experimentation with various techniques, results in harmonious and captivating miniature dimensions.

McHenry's work explores universal childhood experiences of joy and sadness. She creates shadow boxes that are both playful and sinister. McHenry's shadow boxes are like curious rooms of long-ago memories that are stored within our subconscious minds.

Attractive toys and bright colors have shaped our collective experience of childhood imagination and wonder. This ability of viewing everything through the lens of endless possibilities is a magical experience that we lose over time, as imagination is gradually replaced by logic and rationale.

We may find ourselves feeling melancholic and desiring to return to that state of child-like naïveté and innocence that made these objects, books and toys so special.

As such, McHenry's miniature rooms are romantic but they undeniably display a darker side. In sharp contrast to the shiny toys and fancy baby dolls, the rooms are abandoned, decrepit and dusty. There is mold on the wall, the plaster is cracking, and the paint is peeling. They are sinisterly frozen in time as the cobwebs have taken over. The passing of decades is highlighted by the layers upon layers of clashing wallpapers and paint.

This can be interpreted as a metaphor for the loss of childhood innocence and the accompanying feelings of disillusion and grief.

McHenry has drawn inspiration from her early years as the grand-daughter of artist Liliana Conti Cammarata. She has been influenced by abstract and geometric artwork such as that of Wassily Kandinsky, as well as the subconscious and dream theories of surrealists like Belgian painter René Magritte. She has also been greatly inspired by the American artist Joseph Cornell, one of the pioneers of assemblage art who has been credited for elevating the box to an art form with his innovative and oneiric shadow boxes.