Brittany Virgallito
Any
Bowling Green, OH, United States
“Brittany Virgallito is an artist with a Bachelor’s Degree in digital art and passion for many mediums. While primarily into illustration and character design, they’ve dabbled in: photography, mixed-media art dolls, glassblowing, jewelry and metal working, and sculpture! They are currently working on a portfolio in the hopes of getting into a Master’s Degree program for 3D Studies and building up a small art business.”
“I aspire to reach those whose inner child might have been hurt or tormented into submission; adults who now grapple with the loss of that innocence and feel it in their everyday lives. I too, have been searching for a voice that can accurately depict what it means to be different.”
www.bvirgallito.com
How does your work relate to the theme of restoration?
“Restoration in the My Little Pony collecting community often entitles giving new life to old and battered toys that have seen better days. These sometimes come in the form of fully restoring the toy to it's original glory, or in some cases, customizing it into a unique work of art. Here I chose to do just that, and took a generation 1 toy and turned her into wearable art! ”
"Pony Ring & Earring Set"; My Little Pony head & vinyl, copper sheet, pony beads, copper & silver wire; Ring- 3"x3.5" Earrings- 5"x0.5"; 2026, Brittan VirgallitoHow does your creative practice allow you to restore (renew, return, reclaim, recover)?
“When I create pieces, I reclaim the parts of myself that society tried to take from me. The strange, quirky, autistic queer kid who grew up in the Catholic faith still has teeth even if they took a few knocks around the playground. I find that I can genuinly just be myself when I'm making, no matter what medium, and no one is able to take that from me. My piece chosen for queerphoria touches on my love of My Little Pony that I've had since childhood, and allows me to reclaim that lost childhood in a new and refreshing light.”
As a queer+, artist, what do you see can be, needs to be, or cannot be restored?
“What needs to be restored is our sense of community, especially in online spaces. There's so much infighting these days that we all need to take a step back and remember our roots. We're all in this fight together, no matter where on the queer spectrum you fall. ”
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“Simply put, in my research on the representation of the vulva in sculpture, I discovered that they resolved the pubic area by carving a smooth surface, free of hair or anatomical folds, just like a Barbie doll. This infantilization of the female body is known as 'Venus Pudica' (or Modest Venus), meaning that ancient sculptures, after the paleolotical period, of feminized bodies with a visible vulva simply do not exist.”