Mucho Mistrust (series)

Like most of Olivia’s work, this varied edition has both a poetic yet humorous narrative voice; one that is both defiant and declarative in its emotion. The titular nod to Blondie (from the well known song Heart of Glass) denotes a feminine presence as well as a rhythmic and lyrical feel to the series overall – as though the works are snatches from an ongoing and disjointed song. The works disrupt how we gaze on the speaker, literally riffing on the anatomical figure of the heart to demonstrate a discordant and emotional navigation of the inner and outer self. Further, the premise of the caption (Don’t have the audacity to touch me) is simultaneously a reactive push-back – get away! Get off me! Don’t look at me! – suggesting a push-pull between exposure and concealment of selfhood; a dichotomous drawing-forth and pushing away.

Materially speaking, the process behind these prints suggests an interplay of temporalities, contrasting the more laborious and time-consuming (within the etching and aquatint) and the more immediate and autographic (the scribbled and crayoned lines).