BADDIE

It takes a rare kind of fearlessness to admit to the people closest to you that you don’t feel loved by them. That you aren’t emotionally fulfilled within the connection and that you’re looking for a way to fix that. In BADDIE specifically I wanted to explore the dissonance between how we may perceive that others don’t love us versus the reality that they’re trying, just in their way. It’s a badass thing to be so emotionally raw and vulnerable with people because in that rawness exists an objective truth that no amount of perception can contort or manipulate: it just is what it is. And what it is, is pure poetry. While feelings aren’t the truth, they are true in their influence and hold weight that can sometimes be too much for someone to carry alone.

The themes in BADDIE all intertwine with the concept of inherent value and the dichotomy between varied cultural experiences of emotional expression and mental health maintenance. We see that with how easy Tris’s friends seem to be able to navigate their shared world all the while she is weighed down in her overthinking and constant analysis of where she stands. Instead of rejecting her, Liv and Aly stand with her in this cyclical movement of “give and take” to help her carry and release these emotions.