Artist Statement

My work responds to identity construction, societal roles, and the dynamics of social power as they relate to the human body.  

By focusing on the way we present ourselves, I question the way we are expected to live our lives.  We begin our lives as a lump of clay, soft and malleable, and our experiences change us.  The process of becoming who we are is what I am interested in.  This definition of personality happens as we internalize our experiences and the societal expectations that are imposed on us.   Personality is constantly concealed and revealed through social exchanges and action of the individual. I study these masks, coverings, and costumes, as barriers to seeing the real woman inside.  I remove all barriers from the forms I study and present them side by side.  The simple, beautiful nudes present these personas as options, not as necessity.  They examine their own world and various cultures to find what they are looking for, not what society imposes on them.  

Society has become obsessed with beauty, and the old saying of "you are what you eat" is now "you are what you see."  Our days are saturated with images, everything is centered around visual stimuli, every image we consume has been engineered for our seasoned visual palette. American pop culture has shaped the world, we are the dominant stimuli.  Are we aware of what we are seeing?  We need to ask ourselves: "what is right for me?" not what we are expected to be.

The development of all women is linked, our cycles in rhythm with nature and the eternal continuation of all life.  As we realize how special our own place is in the world, we realize that we share our experiences with all women, throughout history, all over the world.   In my life, this maturation was not readily understood or accepted.  Through my life, I have resisted the development of my identity as a woman, wanting to hold on to the simplicity of childhood.  I am still puzzled by some of the things expected of me as a woman, the way I am supposed to act, the double-standards of morality and the implied inferiority of my capabilities.