Tigre Mashaal-Lively '08 and Sophia Paez '24: Feeding the Fear Beast
Multidisciplinary artist Tigre Mashaal-Lively '08 has been featured in the Santa Fe Reporter, along with intern Sophia Paez '24, to discuss their latest project, Facing the Fearbeast.
Facing the Fearbeast is an interactive sculpture by Mashaal-Lively that will head to Burning Man this year, after being shipped and assembled in Nevada (and weighing in at about 7,000 pounds).
For her Field Work Term internship, Paez has been working alongside Mashaal-Lively to learn new techniques and collaborate on "Fearbeast" that will be displayed among 400 other art installations at Burning Man. Paez will travel to Nevada and assist in the installation.
“Ideas are always welcome here, which is beautiful, and everyone is accepting and has mastered their craft,” Paez tells the Santa Fe Observer. “I’ve worked with other artists before, but the focus people have given me here as an individual to try and push and exceed limitations you have for yourself? I get to see myself in this project, and I don’t think I fully accepted that idea until recently.”
“The real crux of this piece is not just about facing the things that terrify us, but being able to see through that to what needs love and compassion,” Mashaal-Lively concludes. “It’s finding this place that’s like, ‘OK, is there a place of peace that is not inaction, but that allows access to careful thought, considered choices? When you’re at peace, you have access to a wider range of outcomes.”