INTERVIEW // On Our Henpecked Existence

‘While You Were Sleeping’

Painter Elizabeth Bergeland wants you to write her a letter

by Heather Shayne Blakeslee

EXCERPT //

EB: The inauguration of this work started from a really achy friend breakup. I felt the wreckage that you described. I had wanted these figures to look entangled, dynamic. There’s this slow-motion crash happening: I can see it. I can’t stop it. That was [the first panel]. There was no intention of it becoming this whole thing. I needed to get it out. It’s a giant self-portrait—I’ve painted myself over and over and over, feeling like I’m supporting myself. I’m helping myself. I’m pushing myself down.  

Then it sat for another few months, and I was like, Oh, wait. I really—as I continue to feel this sense of overwhelm, the pecking, all of it—I was kind of getting wrapped up. I really wanted to feel this horde of chickens. They're all tagged and trapped. It’s the texting and the email. And I just wanted it to feel like this onslaught.

And then this sat for another six months or so, and I was like, Oh, wait! There's more! And this was the last panel. I worked right to left. It was part of me wanting to attempt to take more agency of the narrative, a little bit more control in identifying myself as the potential aggressor: Am I the one causing this whole storm? It’s also proposing the question: Maybe I can also be the one to stop it. //

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