I am NOT a Threat (Fawn)

Available via La Luz de Jesus gallery in Los Angeles, CA.

acrylic, house paint, aluminum, and hardware on salvaged wood, 14” x 6” x 3.5”

A lot of the art in my show, FIGHT | FLIGHT | FAWN | FREEZE, has been inspired by learning I’ve done about my own tendencies to chronically operate within the confines of a stress response. There is a book called “Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving,” written by Pete Walker, that has served as one of the most instrumental sources of my learning. Pete Walker describes the fawn response as “a trauma response in which a person reverts to people-pleasing to diffuse conflict and reestablish a sense of safety.”

In my experience, a fawn can really change the ways in which they people please, depending on the audience (if everyone seems like a potential threat, then a number of different strategies will need to be deployed to please different people because of individual preferences), but they seem to be particularly good at noticing people’s moods and emotions, especially noticing potentially troubling shifts in moods.

Just like other polarized and/or chronic stress responses, a person who is stuck in Fawn mode can unknowingly have their true personality dissolve or collapse (if it even had a chance to form in the first place), leaving the Fawn persona as the sole system of operating. This rodeo clown has been waving that white flag so long that it has begun to replace her arm.