Being More Than - Painting Series (2026)
Acrylic on canvas
A tummy can symbolize two opposing ideas at the same time; trust and openness alongside a deep vulnerability.
In this series, I wanted to depict how the female figure can simply exist in both real life and the art world without a pre-conceived reason for its representation.
When I began this 5 week drawing series, I had no idea what to do and it was a one-off thing to start drawing bellies because, honestly, I thought the word was funny.
Whenever I was painting, I would call it belly time.
As the weeks went by, I was reminded of my relationship with the female figure. I kept asking my peers and professor how I could make my piece as non-sexual as possible.
My original idea was to show how intimacy doesn’t have to be anything excessive and making my paintings sexual was the one thing I didn’t want to do as I felt it caused my meaning to be lost——as if the female figure, specifically the neck, breasts, and torso, existing as it was caused my paintings to devolve its meaning into something purely about sexuality.
I realized how backwards my thinking about the figure was and as my pieces turned towards self-portraiture I figured I had a lot of unresolved issues with how my body is perceived. Changing from an adolescent into a “woman” I felt like my body became the main quality that made me seen.
Despite progress we’ve made towards a feminist future, the weight of perception still wires women to believe that the intrinsic sexuality a body makes it lose anything else it could represent. I feel it at least.
I hope that people will take from this that series that you can exist without reason to, you don’t need to prove your worth to anyone.
This was my drawing final for my first year at RISD. The second semester haha! I’m so grateful y I got to experience this with my classmates and my professors. Shoutout to Norman Paris!
