Whimsical Feminist 2022

My quest for self-love, human connection, and matriarchal empowerment is expressed through my aesthetic practices for this series of paintings. At the surface, I want you to see the pleasure and beauty in the images; the prominent smiling figures, comedic gestures, and explosions of color. But I also leave bits of the initial chaos, some underbelly exposed. I begin with feelings of joy, sadness, fear, anxiety and are each iterated through haphazard brushstrokes in bright neons or muddy palette remnants. From this free radical energy, I begin manipulating the composition, adding figures, and focusing on the expressions taking care that they are adequately expressive but still elusive. Each toothy grin, neon peek-a-boo, vibrant color, and bold pattern satisfy my maximalist style.

I gathered friends for the source photographs and videos, instructing them to wear loud patterns and costumes for staged parties simulating but ultimately reworking

typical stuffy and typically “feminine” activities—tea parties, weddings, and lounging about in repose on Victorian fainting couches. The outfits are intended to recall bourgeois social standards but with a touch of the absurd. During the photo sessions, we drank, laughed, jumped, swang, strutted, and peed our pants together with a sarcastic, knowing nod to the camera of the restrictions of etiquette. The initial awkwardness of this admittedly contrived event subsided with the flowing of

champagne, the playing of dress-up, and masquerading with a unicorn head. This vulnerability, this trusting of the process, led to the powerful feminine energy and true joy I was seeking. I want this immersive experience to feel like a giant hug from a room full of liberated women. I want raucousness filling the spaces with bursts of maniacal but authentic laughter. Or perhaps even be a magic summoning of the cosmic feminine.