Cocoon.
Joyous bride. Grieving widow. Naughty boy.
Politicized. Romanticized. Ostracized. Mesmerized.
A secret hiding spot. A prison. A fort.


The process of painting has the power to transform, manipulate, diminish, or exaggerate subject matter. I exploit this idea by appropriating photographs and filtering them through my painted interpretation often decontextualizing them. I comb the Internet for images of figures surrounded by various textiles: shroud, blanket, bandages, tent, veil, or headscarf. The potential for transformation of a joyous or whimsical photograph into an eerie, haunting, or even political image fascinates me, and vice versa. Through this shift of context, one is left to ponder the actual differences in the symbolism of a textile. I explore the push and pull of race and sexuality, ritual and religion, the human condition, submission and domination, and positioning of females culturally and traditionally.