Love Me, Therefore ______ Me. is a visual and auditory exploration of love at its most intoxicating and ruinous state. Through expressive sketches and poetic sequencing, this motion graphic novel reflects the self-sacrificial nature of “love” and the paradox of deep emotional entanglement, where two people are drawn together through a magnetic, undeniable, and destructive bond; Highs are euphoric, moments where seems the universe has designed a connection with divine precision, yet, lows are catastrophic spirals of shame, turmoil, and regret, where faith in humanity and oneself is questioned. The viewer is left in the aftermath, sitting with the finality of love's implosion. The video is not just a depiction of a toxic relationship, but an immersive confrontation with it. It demands that the viewer feel what it means to be consumed and to long for something that hurts. As if the brain cannot outrule the heart, there is an odd sense of purpose when chasing unrequited love. If love is the force that affirms existence—"I love, therefore I am in love"—then to sever that bond is to question the very nature of truth. If I no longer love you, then the person who loved you has ceased to exist entirely. So, who am I now and what does all of this make me? Now that I am not desired, am I merely an empty, rotten carcass? Was I ever meant to survive? Is love the art of feeding or the art of fasting? When you consumed me, did you taste my suffering? If you love me, then what else can you do to me?
Ivana Grace-Lou Gottwald was born in South Carolina and raised in Palm Springs, California, before relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue a BFA in Digital Media Art and minor in Graphic Design at San José State University.
Her creative practice is driven by the interplay of contrast—color, typography, angle, and alignment—using tension and juxtaposition as tools for impact. Grace-Lou has an interdisciplinary approach, using her foundation in various programs to work across disciplines including graphic, motion, and sound design, front-end web development, video editing, 3D modeling and animation, photography, multimedia storytelling, and sketching.
Existentially, her work is a confrontation with discomfort. She draws from grief, disillusionment, lost faith, psychedelia, romance, and harm to create art that is unapologetically raw. Her practice doesn't seek to soothe; it pushes and unsettles. Through heavy themes, she carves out moments of unexpected beauty—challenging viewers to find meaning in the dark spaces we are taught to fear.
