THOUGHTS

Clothing and textiles are my inherited mother tongue, painting my chosen language. The family business started by my grandfather was a high-end dry cleaners in the land of the du Pont estates, generating childhood fantasies of the lives that inhabited those wardrobes with an enviable dress-up collection at home. Before I started painting again I found myself costuming for a theater as a creative outlet while working (again) in the family business. The language and power of clothing along with decades of dabbling in theater was deeply ingrained before I started working in self-portraiture.

The complex performance of identity deeply fascinates me, often distilled into the complicated experience of being a human heavily socialized as a woman. I have a tumultuous relationship with femininity and am always searching for what exists beyond the binary, a third Other, a monstrous feminine. I am intrigued by how we construct a sense of identity through what we attach to our bodies or tailor what we present to the world. The paintings spring from a dialogue with the past and present, internal and external influences, a healthy dose of shared stories and mythology, and the struggle to form a cohesive sense of self. I am creating work to exist in a world where it’s unnecessary to fall into a particular category and all of identity can be fluid. It is my hope that as long as I’m trying to open a door to this perspective, it allows an abundance of other doors and windows and umbrellas and cupboards to open. 



June 2025