Muse:The series My Country is different from many other works that have people as subjects. What inspired you to create this more abstract expression?
Nona Faustine: It was a logical and organic next step from my series White Shoes where I had placed my body in places of hidden history—making my body into a temporary monument of sorts. I used to think the first image in the series of the Statue of Liberty came about almost accidentally, but now thinking back, I question that I believe that I knew what I was doing along. I just turned off something and let another part of me take over.
Muse: The lines across the images give a sense of detachment, chaos, and suppression. What message do you want to deliver here?
NF: While it was a way of describing emotion, it also represented a sense of freedom, truth, history, knowledge, rage, and yes suppression.