Untitled  #2

In this piece, I was considering rituals and performances of gender. Entering adulthood and the college environment, I noticed the rigidity of gender performances in college social life. There is a culture of sexual commodification that breeds sexual violence that is practically ignored by the institution. I have felt a vulnerability that comes with being a woman navigating college social life. I was also thinking about the body. Our minds are so vulnerable to the media we consume, and our self-concept becomes distorted by everything we see around us. The figure in my painting is distorted to reflect my experience with growing up in a female body. I have participated in self-destructive rituals that are somehow normal experiences of performing femininity.