This current body of work, Secondhand Melancholy, is about the inheritance of melancholy. This melancholy is an inheritance of distress of mind caused by loss, suffering and disappointment. I question and investigate the idea, if one can inherit genes, traits, things, perhaps the secondhand gifts of emotions are also inherited, a burdensome gift from our loved ones, our ancestors.
The female form is used to portray and reflect on the definition of melancholy as an inherited emotion. The large scale paintings use line and color to question melancholy and how this sadness surrounds and shifts the women in their isolated space. M.V. Moran recently earned her MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. She has a BFA in Painting from the University of Oregon. She works in Eugene, Oregon.