Artist Statement
Growing up sexually, and mentally abused my body feels like enemy territory. I began painting as a child and found in painting a way to express in visual what I wasn't allowed to give words to. Through the years painting sustained me, giving me the voice that I heard inside but that didn't know how to emerge. As an adult painting is no longer just the place that allows me to work through my struggles around my sexuality, identity and image of myself. Painting is now the vehicle through which I explore the voice I was born with. Painting is both a way to recover from trauma and an expression of the self I was before I was violated and abused. Through painting I have found the layers I myself I always denied: I am a woman. I am a lesbian. I am a sexual being. I deserve joy, happiness, visibility and voice. Equal to this is the excitement I feel when a woman shares with me how my paintings have helped her to explore and give her a voice. As an artist it my hope that my art can expose secrets that have kept women in states of shame moving us one step closer to self-acceptance, equality and justice. I believe visual art is critical in this fight.
