My work is socially charged and ridden with hints of social anxiety. Through my work I communicate my reactions to current events. These include topics such as the war in Iraq, debate over abortion, lack of sex education in public schools, and same sex marriage. I obtain my information from cable news networks, internet blogs, websites, and lectures that range in topics from a history on condoms to women's health.
Recent reporting on the prolonged war in Iraq and the debate over abortion during the 2004 election year sparked my interest. In my piece No Abortion, Then No War or Capital Punishment, I take an all or nothing point of view. I feel that we can not remove a woman's right to choose, and then allow the slaughter of our men and women because of their crimes or via war. The armed embryo's become our future in a society that values some lives while others are lined up to be exterminated.
The debate over same sex marriage has also found its way into my work. At first as a strong graphic “street sign” with gay couples with the word prohibited over printed to serve as a public announcement for the newly created law in Missouri. However the topic has evolved into a subtle role, and is incorporated into my use of bras and thongs as symbols of women’s freedom. This follows along with my liberal, lesbian, feminist values; which requires that I treat everyone equal and let others choose for themselves.
The lack of sex education or “abstinence only” education of the recent years garnered my interest. Specifically within my piece titled The Results of Too Much Abstinence. I intend to communicate that without teaching the many methods of sex, oral sex, prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, ways to be safe (including abstinence), and how to correctly plan a family, we should then be selling sex in a can. The use of sex for procreation removes all pleasure, specifically for the female. So in a world were sex is canned, you’d purchase a can, add water and your man or woman would spring to life. Certainly, the canned woman needs to carry the child so for this service she would cost more, while the canned man is only around just long enough for dinner, movie and a quickie.
These themes come together as a visual commentary of my feelings and my thoughts of society from the previous months to form a cohesive whole. I employ many mediums such as wood and linoleum cuts, callographs, mono-prints and various drawing methods to create my work. By employing these mediums I am able to create images that are aggravated, aggressive, and expressive of my angst and anxiety within the “unstable” world around me.