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Vulnerability in Expression

Artist Statement:

For this two part series, I used a variety of different materials to achieve the effect of mixing painterly aspects with realism. The backgrounds were all done with a warm, neutral grey. These contrast with the 3D elements of flowers and jewelry on top of the finished portraits, which are made with acrylic paint on stretched canvas.

With this series, I wanted to present a predominantly male figure, but add stereo-typically feminine accessories to him in order to make the audience question the gender of the model. I used a mixture of painterly and realistic approaches to these paintings to create further doubt for the viewer. I decided to strip this painting down to its essentials and focus on a vulnerability. I chose this topic again to further the conversation around androgyny and gender identity and the vulnerability faced by people in those communities.

I chose to stay with the same model as my last series to further both of our experiences and our journey through identity. In the photo references I used, my model wore makeup for the first time, which enriched the experience for both of us. By bringing him on as my model for this project again, I was not only educating him on the topic, but helping him on a journey to accepting and discovering himself.

The following are quotes taken from an interview with the model about his thoughts and feelings towards the series:

“I thought at first it would be weird and it may not look good, but once I tried and saw it, I felt like an attractive person. The process of taking the photos felt awkward at first but I warmed up to the idea of expression, I got into it and had fun! Looking at the paintings they make me feel like I can be more open to personally expressing myself in his manor in my everyday life.”

Right to Exist

I am a queer femme artist from conservative rural Northern BC. Predominantly working in acrylic on canvas, my work has explored my identity, vulnerably taking up aspects of mental health, sexuality, and gender through portraiture. Right to Exist series (2024) examines contemporary issues around gender expression, specifically around the increasingly violent and hostile tide of conservative rhetoric we are experiencing in North America currently and its social and political implications for gender nonconforming bodies. I work to give people with a spectrum of gender expressions a platform by painting portraits of them; I seek to visually tell their stories and advocate for their need for a safe existence. Through painting portraits of gender nonconforming people I represent their powerful humanity in contrast to a dehumanizing and hateful surge. Advocating for gender expression as a positive and liberatory act I ask audiences to reexamine their preconceptions of gender and their judgments, challenging them to see how they might contribute to change. Ultimately, I want my art to be the representation that I so desperately craved growing up. I am very grateful that this series was funded through a grant from the BC Arts Council as it was immensely important to be created and shown now as it will be directly impactful. The hateful rhetoric against gender non-conforming individuals is spreading into Canada and across BC. I created these works to show that these people are human and need respect, through depictions of sorrow and pain inflicted on them for just needing to exist.

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Right to Exist

I am a queer femme artist from conservative rural Northern BC. Predominantly working in acrylic on canvas, my work has explored my identity, vulnerably taking up aspects of mental health, sexuality, and gender through portraiture. Right to Exist series (2024) examines contemporary issues around gender expression, specifically around the increasingly violent and hostile tide of conservative rhetoric we are experiencing in North America currently and its social and political implications for gender nonconforming bodies. I work to give people with a spectrum of gender expressions a platform by painting portraits of them; I seek to visually tell their stories and advocate for their need for a safe existence. Through painting portraits of gender nonconforming people I represent their powerful humanity in contrast to a dehumanizing and hateful surge. Advocating for gender expression as a positive and liberatory act I ask audiences to reexamine their preconceptions of gender and their judgments, challenging them to see how they might contribute to change. Ultimately, I want my art to be the representation that I so desperately craved growing up. I am very grateful that this series was funded through a grant from the BC Arts Council as it was immensely important to be created and shown now as it will be directly impactful. The hateful rhetoric against gender non-conforming individuals is spreading into Canada and across BC. I created these works to show that these people are human and need respect, through depictions of sorrow and pain inflicted on them for just needing to exist.

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