Artist Statement

This project explores our relationship with icons. For better or worse, these figures have found their way into our psyche and shaped our view of ourselves and others irrevocably. Their performance is our performance. I wanted to explore this by stepping into these roles myself. I found there to be an intoxicating dance in finding where these women end and where I begin. The pursuit of that dance is what I want to inspire in the viewer. The experience garners power, peace, shock, and disgust. But most importantly, it deepens our relationship with ourselves and subsequently with humanity at large.

With each piece, I wanted to meet these women on their level, rendering myself in a style and color scheme that agreed with their terms but respected my own presence within them. Striking that balance was extremely important. My techniques and materials developed and morphed with each person, which assured me that this concept was effective, if only from my standpoint. Some figures I chose were real, living, breathing people, and others only fictional, but all represent integral facets of our humanity. I have put myself in these positions to reiterate that each individual contains this infinite supply of beauty, horror, awkwardness, and contradiction. It is both safe and vital to our survival to acknowledge this fact and maintain its truth for the future of humanity.