Artist Statement

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I am investigating the contemporary simulacra of womanhood generated by the media, the seduction it creates, and the real ways in which it shapes everyday life. The work is permeated with my experiences feeling uncomfortable, insecure, anxious, and longing or grasping for things I desperately desire. There is a tension present between progress and regression, momentum and lethargy, joy, and agitation. All of this is refined and filtered through a seductive lens that mimics the reframing of life on social media. Amplified colors adjacent the experience of coming of age in a culture of heightened reality and loud expectations for women. Compulsive mark-making and repetition serves as cathartic processing as well as an indicator of the work of constructing one's self or self-image. A similar treatment of materials for figure and ground results in a sensation that the figure could, or is, fading into its surroundings. This push and pull illuminate the struggle to differentiate between what has been created in the image of the simulacra or genuine self. Though my work is largely autobiographical, in a way it also functions as a simulacra environment in which viewers can participate. Conversely, the work also serves as a prism through which viewers can observe and dissect their own life experiences.