There Will Be Sacrifices Along The Way

Project / Tori Tinsley

Tori Tinsley’s poignant, often humorous work focuses on the interplay of emotions and vulnerability in relationships based on caregiving, especially between mother and child. Her recent work deals with the isolation of quarantine and the complexity of touch (or the absence of touch) during COVID-19. This artist project was featured in ART PAPERS Summer 2020, an issue that explored the current state of living and working in the arts, and the unfolding impacts of the pandemic. Across six paintings, Tori tells the story of a parent, a child, and their donkey helper.

Acrylic on canvas depicts frowning pink humanoid facing smaller pink humanoid mounted on back of a donkey and pointing into distance; purple mountains and turquoise sky are in background
Acrylic on canvas shows frowning abstract humanoid leading smaller, smiling pink humanoid mounted on gray donkey
Acrylic on canvas shows a small pink humanoid smiling at a swimming donkey from their perch on a larger humanoid who is half-submerged in water
Acrylic on canvas depicts abstract pink humanoid carrying smaller yellow humanoid on back and dragging gray donkey by the nose; in the distance, as if through mouth of a cave, pine trees are visible
Acrylic on canvas depicting abstract pink humanoid carrying smaller pink figure on their back and dragging a gray donkey by the nose as they walk along a dirt path leading through green countryside and up jagged mountainside
Acrylic on canvas shows abstract pink humanoid climbing mountain carrying smaller humanoid on back and dragging gray donkey by the nose
Acrylic on canvas shows pink humanoid laying down with mouth open on side of jagged mountain as smaller humanoid points into distance; gray donkey stands lower down on mountain and blue sky and green field are in background

Tori Tinsley (b. 1980) is an Atlanta-based artist. With the use of exaggerated facial features and dark humor, her work explores the layered emotions and vulnerability inherent in caring for another. Past awards include an Idea Capital Grant (2015), City of Atlanta Emerging Artist Award (2016), and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2016).