Artist Statement: “In Name Only” Explores the friction between American ideals and institutional reality. Through stark chiaroscuro, a somber Liberty turns from a shadowed, tattered flag, toward the light of her torch, a symbol of grassroots resistance burning despite a government facing the opposite direction. 

Artist Statement: This piece explores ways in which we change ourselves in order to manipulate how others see us. The subject of the portrait presents one eye to the camera, the only area where makeup has been applied. Through acknowledging the viewer through eye contact and purposefully positioning the “best side forward,” the subject shows a belief that the alterations made by makeup as more desirable than the unchanged features.

Artist Statement: This piece is about my perception of femininity as “another world” through the metaphor of earth, space, and aliens. The cute alien girl, an ideal, unachievable figure, is contrasted with the Earth, masculinity, whose face is on the farthest part of the earth from space.

Artist Statement: Inner Goddess represents inner beauty and the queer experience, it shows a person tearing open their chest to reveal the Venus of Milo inside them, symbolizing how they are done hiding their identity from the world.

Artist Statement: 1/3 of a 3-piece series of oil paintings