This figure work is an exploration of female self-portraiture. It is about power and healing and transformation. It is my story. It was my way to know and connect with myself and come to terms with my past. My form is utilized as material in the shaping of space on canvas and in the sharing and reflecting of mine and the broader female experience. I am creating scenes and narratives layered in meaning from my life to public policy and current events.

Reproduction quilting fabrics cover and decorate the bodies, referencing the love and protection and art and domesticity of our grandmothers. My nana was a quilter, and my first artistic inspiration. The tiny pieces of fabric that once filled her home now fill my studio. The patterns I use originate from the Colonial Period up to the 1950s. These historic patterns and colors sit well upon my Massachusetts aesthetic and carry our nation’s past into the contemporary issues and people I illustrate. Our histories are always with us.