Lipstick Series

Growing up, we are taught to conceal our emotions. We act like our true selves at home and put up a façade so that others couldn’t see who we really are. My work attempts to give a visual description of the struggle between vulnerability and conformity.
In my paintings, a woman looks into a mirror; a mirror that has smeared text written in lipstick. When we get up in the morning and put on our makeup, we also put on our façade, the guard that keeps us safe within ourselves. We do this in order to feel normal amongst our peers, acting as though we don’t have any internal issues to conceal from others. The women in the paintings attempt to wipe away the lipstick words or look beyond it, trying to get past their internal struggles. The texts written on the mirror are insecurities, phrases that focus on our most vulnerable things we would never share with anyone else. My paintings are a symbolic representation of how we refuse to let our guards down in order to hide who we really are. The text engulfs the figure and grows larger as it gets wiped away, becoming more transparent yet never vacant. We can abstain from being who we really are, but only for so long.

… Read More