The "Empowered" Collection

I have always understood my character work as a love letter to the strong and sexual female

form; there has always been an avoidance towards working with self-portraiture within my creative process however. These works embody a departure from that, putting my own body in the spotlight and exploring some key moments in which I learned to embrace my body and sexual nature.

As a person I have always been very sexual; even from a young age, before I was even aware what it was exactly. Also from that young age I had the weight of what it is to be female in this world crushing me, trying to force me into a mold which was deemed acceptable. My body and sexuality felt like a prison for years…even while I was championing those around me for embracing those same things; the relentless creepy comments, judgements and criticisms that many of those who surrounded me felt entitled to make, whether people I hardly knew or my family, sat heavily on me. It was when I began to embrace my sexual nature and pull towards kink and exhibitionism that I began to define those qualities deemed inherently sexual in my own way and embrace them just as they were. It was through taking photos and shooting videos of my body in all its sexual honesty that I found a deep connection to who I truly was as a sexual being, seperate from the labels forced onto me and my body parts.

These paintings are based on a handful of photos which recall the moments in which I felt particularly empowered through the exposure of my body and my kinks, and fully embraced what is perceived to be the inherent sexuality of my female form. I chose to create these in two different mediums (acrylic and digital), as an expression of the two paths along which this process of change manifested; my real life experiences and the porn I created for the digital world.