Nicolas Bel Pepper

I often go back and forth on the type of art that I like to create. There are times when childhood nostalgia calls to me and I take inspiration from the woods surrounding my childhood home, and others when I am called to express my identity as a nonbinary person living in today's political climate. My art became an expression of my identity during college. Androgynous features make an appearance in most of my figurative work, meshing with the religious iconography that has made a permanent fixture in the back of my mind. I don't consider myself religious anymore, but when you are raised Southern Baptist those stories and lessons you learn never truly go away, the good or the bad. Bugs and other wildlife have been creeping into my artwork recently, and I believe this comes from my yearning to return to a time when my life was simpler. Before the heartache of having to navigate my life as an adult and facing all of the loss that comes with it, I was an ordinary kid who liked to play in the dirt and chase bugs and frogs. I would often spend my entire day outside with my cousins and siblings, often not returning until well after the sun went down. I hope that my work can serve as a sort of bridge that connects all of the little things that make up who I am.