Abstract

This body of work explores the strength of feminine joy, the power of softness, and the resilience of womanhood through large-scale oil paintings and acrylic prints. The central guiding questions for the work are: How can I use paint and printing processes to emphasize the importance of feminine joy, the power of softness, and the inherent resilience of womanhood? Further, can these representations offer experiences of empowerment from collective patriarchal trauma? By considering womanhood through a lens of agency, safety and joy, this project counters narratives that render women’s experiences ornamental or subjugated. Instead, the artist offers an alternative: a vision of womanhood in which vulnerability serves as an act of reclamation, healing, and collective strength. Feminine power is extended through the inclusion of Great Danes in the artwork. No longer symbols of male ownership or domesticity, the dogs embody sacred protectors. They mirror the emotional states of the women they accompany while evoking mythic resonance, from the mother wolf of Roman lore to witches and their familiars. Rather than focusing solely on the historical oppression inflicted upon women, the work acknowledges its role in women’s lives while highlighting a reciprocal force: joy as resistance. By celebrating women’s relationships, via their friendships, self-love, or communal care, the paintings reclaim agency over the narrative of womanhood. Broaching such a subject is deeply personal to the artist yet universally relevant. Inspiration for the work stems from firsthand experiences while also drawing on a broader societal context in which women's voices are continually diminished. The artist asserts that in the joy and resilience shared between women, there exists a network of strength, from which all may draw and contribute to. 

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