Wednesday Portrait v1

My name is Mallory Maybe, and my piece is titled "Wednesday Portrait v1." This piece is an 18-by-24-inch portrait created entirely by hand using duct tape and an X-Acto knife. The image features Wednesday Addams standing centered on the canvas, facing forward with her arms crossed and her signature long black braids falling over her shoulders.

The portrait has a limited color palette of black, white, and a soft skin tone, which gives it a bold, graphic appearance. Wednesday wears a black dress covered with dozens of tiny white star-like details, along with a crisp white pointed collar and cuffs. Behind her is a large white arch surrounded by a deep black background, helping her figure stand out dramatically from the canvas.

What makes this piece especially important to me is that nothing you see is painted. Every line, shape, facial feature, strand of hair, and tiny detail in her dress is made from duct tape. I create my work by layering different colors of tape and carefully cutting the shapes by hand with an X-Acto knife. Up close, you can see subtle seams and textures from the individual pieces of tape, which reveal how the portrait was constructed.

I chose Wednesday because her dark, distinctive style works perfectly with the bold contrast I love to create in my artwork. I also enjoy taking an ordinary material like duct tape and transforming it into something detailed and unexpected.