She/Her
My practice explores femininity, body image, and self-perception through large-scale figurative self-portraiture. I’m interested in the way women experience themselves within a culture where appearance is constantly observed, judged, and compared. A lot of the work comes from thinking about how difficult it is to ever see yourself clearly or objectively when self-image is so shaped by outside perspectives, expectations, and ideals.
The work is heavily influenced by John Berger and his book Ways of Seeing, particularly his idea that women exist as both the “surveyor and surveyed.” That idea has stayed with me throughout my practice because it reflects something I think many women experience daily: constantly being aware of yourself while also imagining how you appear to other people. My paintings explore this tension rather than trying to solve it. I’m less interested in presenting a clear answer and more interested in examining the contradictions that exist within female self-portraiture.
I build the images first through costuming, creating complicated draped forms that play with the silhouette of the body and are malleable in themselves; I am interested in the interplay between exposure and concealment. I then take these costumes into performance, videoing myself in front of mirrors in staged, often uncomfortable poses. I then select stills and translate them through drawing, digital colour mapping, and painting. The final works are slightly larger than life, using distortion, colour, and scale to create presence and intensity.
Warning: this content contains nudity
