Kara Wilson

Major Motoko Kusanagi

Screenprint on paper 

8 x 14 inches

More Info:

“Major” is the protagonist of Masamune Shirow’s "Ghost in the Shell" manga and anime series, where she is portrayed through a highly sexualized lens. My interpretation seeks to move beyond the male gaze, reimagining her as a nocturnal, owl-like heroine—powerful, watchful, and self-possessed.

Bio:

Kara Wilson is a visual artist working across printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Inspired by the space between dreaming and waking, she transforms impressions from the semi-conscious mind into elemental forms that feel both familiar and strange. Her work explores the tension between control and surrender, structure and spontaneity, and the human-made and organic. Kara is a professional graphic designer and has worked as a Creative Director in the publishing industry for over 20 years. Kara holds a BS in Studio Art and Art Education from Skidmore College. She works and lives with her family in Westchester County, New York.

Statement:

My work primarily consists of original, limited-edition screenprints, as well as painting and sculpture. Working between dreaming and waking, my process begins with the surprising forms that cross my semi-conscious mind. Impressions of people, settings, and objects from dreams combine, calcify, and condense into new elemental shapes. The screenprinting process inherently mimics how my dream visions render themselves in my mind’s eye, layer by layer. I render my visions as digital sketches and use both digital and traditional tools to produce each screen. My prints are short-run limited editions, offering the precision and crisp qualities my shapes are asking for while embracing imperfection and variation. My work reflects on our impulse to engineer a world that is already in motion. What does the evolving path of humanity within the natural world tell us about sustainability, materiality, and reliability? I am fascinated by how nature’s innate rhythms influence us. Yet in our pursuit of perfection, and through our attempts to control or enhance ourselves, each other, and our environments, we often tune those rhythms out. I aim to reflect on the beauty, consequences, and tensions of this exchange, creating space for another rhythmic version of a soul, terrain, or object.