Maren Curtis

Maren Curtis is a printmaker and illustrator originally from Mill Valley, California. Born in 2001, she spent her childhood and adolescence drawing about her life privately. While she’d share the images, she was apprehensive to be vulnerable with her work. When she arrived at Boulder her freshman year, she was raped. For some time she stayed silent about her experience, but once she started realizing how common rape of this nature was for her surrounding peers, she started sharing her experience through her art and writing. She is currently pursuing her BFA in fine art printmaking from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Next fall, she will be pursuing her MFA in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.

In her diary style prints and illustrations, Maren Curtis examines the aftermath of sexual assault and its impacts on both mental and physical health. In the majority of cases, rapist's identities can never be safely exposed. Maren’s fear of seeing her rapist in public keeps her from engaging in most social settings with her peers knowing she will never receive justice.

There were many factors that prevented Maren from coming forward. With time, she has realized how pervasive sexual assault is in University environments. She felt compelled to speak about her experience. Her work highlights the difficulty and emotional complexity of trying to recover in a space her rapist dominates. She hopes to connect with survivors who are similarly silenced.

As her work has expanded, Maren has started examining the link between mental and physical health, specifically how PTSD has impacted her thyroid and Endometriosis. With the weight of silence and damaged health constantly compounding, unreconciled rage results. There is an undeniable societal discomfort with survivors' anger, instead they are expected to express their grievances in sadness - if they are allowed to express grievances at all.

Through her work, the interconnectedness of her assault and well being becomes clearer: rape destroys and latches itself to every aspect of life. Women are not heard or seen. If they’ve experienced rape, they are cast into a hole of despair that they are left alone to dig themselves out of. If they haven’t experienced rape, they live in constant fear of the possibility of it.

Maren addresses the difficulties of these realities by extending a hand to women and survivors who feel isolated and ashamed, holding a mirror to sexual predators, and providing a guide to those who need to comfort a friend or partner.