VOICES COLLECTION

This collection explores the intersection of language, gender, and power. I am interested in how the meaning differs depending upon who is speaking and who is listening. This ambiguity of meaning allows for multiple interpretations and highlights some of the ways in which messages are sent and received. The viewer decides whether the message is one of aggression, a statement of fact, a gender stereotype, a voice of resistance, or a challenge to larger societal messages.

Queens

This series explores women of status articulating statements of power. In these paintings, the declarative statements do not convey any ambiguity about who wields the power.

Voices Outside Torsos

This series continues the exploration of language and power but shifts the message from inside the figure to outside. The black figures represent all women rather than one individual woman, drawing the viewer into the void.

Drawings

This series of ink drawings continues the exploration of women and the language that follows them around. The meaning shifts depending upon whether the message is spoken to them or by them.

Modern Figures

This series explores the ambiguity that arises when the viewer does not know who is speaking to whom. The words convey different meanings depending upon who holds the power.

Inside My Head

Expanding on the idea of the head as a vessel for containment, this series explored the use of the written word as an important design element. The black head reads as negative space, with the words drawing you in.

Voices Inside Torsos

This series continues the exploration of language and power but shifts the message from inside the figure to outside. The black figures represent all women rather than one individual woman, drawing the viewer into the void.

Silhouettes

This series was the point of origin for my Voices Collection. I was interested in the simple silhouette as a container for language, with a subtle reference to the old-fashioned shadow silhouette portraits.