I believe the act of art making can be
an act of self-determination and empowerment. My paintings examine how in
re-claiming, re-visioning, and re-membering ourselves as whole people we
bring out art, our actions, and our voices to the world. In all me art making
I examine how awareness occurs on the path to finding creative and critical
voice when we recognize that our place in the world is part of larger social
patterns.My paintings examine the contradictions I have found when my experience of reality has been in conflict with what I have been taught to expect by the dominant culture around me. Much of this examination revolves around noticing what parts of myself I was taught value and which to discard as worthless or negative. I was taught that spirit, body and mind are separate entities, and not to be valued equally. I was taught that my body was to be the focus of my life, but that I should feel shame because of it. I was taught that the mind was to be revered, but that mine wasn't that valuable. And I was taught that the spirit, while transcendent, had no place in daily life.
In my art I am taking back those parts of myself I was taught to destroy. I am taking back my body, my mind and my spirituality. I am re-claiming, re-visioning, and re-membering myself as a whole person and demanding that no part of myself be left.