Censored is a body of work that engages in an intense exploration of the body and its representation. The work focuses on timely concepts of gender and identity, creating a space for dismantling large-scale societal and cultural systems of oppression. By borrowing patriarchal influences from a long tradition in figure painting and combining them with bold colors, these silent, but towering large-scale paintings, create a voluble visual narrative on the relationship between people, their bodies, and their freedom.

These figures represent my desire to tackle issues around the push and pull of being a woman and the depiction of women in our society and popular culture. The female nude is traditionally painted under the male gaze. I appropriate techniques associated with male masters to show my own point of view as a woman and subvert traditional norms of female beauty and femininity. By painting myself in the nude, I challenge traditional dynamics by becoming both the artist and model, reclaiming power as the author and subject of my work.

The exhibition can be viewed online at roaringartistgallery.com from January 17 - February 28.