I am committed to rendering the body authentically—without dramatization or the impulse to perfect. As a woman painter, I do this to subvert the white European male tradition that has long defined Western art. My aim is to create a space where every joint, curve, wrinkle, and stretch mark is honored as a testament to the inherent beauty and resilience of the human body. In doing so, I challenge the impossible body standards that women have been pressured to conform to throughout history. Claiming my identity as a woman artist is not incidental to my practice—it is central. It transforms my adoption of traditional large-scale figurative oil painting into a political act. 

For centuries, male artists—Rubens, Picasso, Manet—have co-opted the image of the female body to cement their names in history, reducing women's humanity by turning them into objects of consumption and symbolism. My work engages with and critiques this phenomenon: the colonization of the female body. In contrast, I return agency to my models by making the process deeply collaborative. Each painting emerges through conversation and shared decision-making with the women and femme-identifying individuals who choose to work with me. Together, we shape how their bodies are represented. Their willingness to be vulnerable—to pose nude in spite of doubt—humbles and inspires me. That shared trust forms the foundation of my ongoing project, Girl, Woman, Other: a love letter to the complexities of the human form and a celebration of each subject’s intrinsic worth. 

Spend any time online, and it becomes clear that our culture is deeply uncomfortable with women’s bodies—especially those that deviate from the narrow norms we’ve been taught to accept. My work often confronts this discomfort. Larger bodies, aging bodies, disabled bodies, Black and brown bodies: these are not often shown in the nude, and certainly not in ways that center their beauty without demanding conformity. I render these people with intention and care, emphasizing uniqueness rather than erasure. I know these paintings can be challenging to encounter—because they insist on being seen. My hope is that through this encounter, something shifts: from unease, to recognition, to admiration.