Artist Statement
This body of work is titled Stone Butch Blues Heavily inspired by Leslie Feinberg's book, an autobiographical novel written from the perspective of stone butch lesbian Jess Goldberg; it intimately details her life in the last half of the 20th century in New York. The body of work was about my own life journey of coming out as queer in Lincoln, NE and moving to a bigger city (Toronto, ON) in the hope of finding myself and my community. I am a part of a similar journey many queer people go through. In many ways, the collection of tones and colors used instills in us how we all come from different lived experiences. The work was painted, shaved, burned, sculpted, and then painted all over again. This method of creating mirrors a narrative of reinventing yourself and your identity, whether it's constantly coming out, experiencing hate or prejudice, or even finding that your terms are changing. Society demands that you identify yourself clearly, forcing you to play a balancing act of conforming until, sadly, in some cases, you are pushed too far.