Annamarie Pabst - resilience captured

Do you encounter misconceptions about being an artist?

Successful art taps into the deep recesses of the imagination. This often can remind us of the vivid imagination we possessed as children, which brings to mind the most carefree time in our lives. Perhaps this is why some believe the artistic process is all whimsy and emotion. In reality, producing art requires extreme discipline and technical knowledge.

What led you to art?

I started drawing when I was three. I would spend hours going through piles of storybooks and admiring the illustrations, pretending I was a part of each scene. This led me to draw my own pictures.

Who taught you the most about art?

Debra Beers, who is a remarkable artist and the Head of Drawing at Lewis and Clark College.

What are you presently inspired by?

I recently finished a series of charcoal portraits rendered from mugshots taken inside S-21 Prison during the 1970's Khmer Rouge genocide. There were 12 known survivors out of the 17,000 people that were imprisoned there. The drawings are meant to emit a strength of will to survive despite imminent suffering, death, and disappearance.

Featured: S-21 Prisoner #1

The portraits are rendered from mugshots taken inside S-21 Prison during the 1970's Cambodian Genocide. The faces display a resilient fight to survive despite the nightmarish conditions of their imprisonment. The black negative space represents the imminence of death and disappearance. The inmates are combating the vast darkness that envelops them. They emerge from the shadows in defiance to reveal their identity.

A percentage of personal profit will go to Exceed-Worldwide, an organization providing prosthetic & orthotic education & services to Cambodians. Exceed began its work in 1990 in response to the thousands of land-mine survivors in Cambodia.