My work explores the confusion I feel when I think of myself as a sexual being. I want to figure out where vulnerability ends and empowerment begins, and furthermore, if there is empowerment within vulnerability. When I started this series of paintings, it was scary for me to put my body up for critique because of my nakedness. I do not believe that the poses I am taking are inherently vulgar. However, “vulgar” seems to be how my work is perceived. Thus begins the process of working around a societal obstacle that artists such as Judy Chicago, Carolee Schneemann, Clarity Haynes, and  Lisa Yuskavage have been competing with for years - the world’s perception of the female body in artwork. I think that what is influencing this perception of vulgarity in my own work, is the direct, real, nudity that I do not stray away from. It is the presence of my uncovered breasts or vagina that make these paintings confrontational. As I grow into this practice, I’ve become more confident. I have found that I can use my body to provoke a reaction. My poses become even more direct, the handling of paint is heavier and more intense. My intent now is to push the literal vulgarity of the work to explore society's definition of the term. My vagina shouldn’t scare people, so why does it? Am I painting myself being explicit or exposed? Who truly has the power? It is this feeling, the discovery of having the choice to wield my body as a tool to command my audience, that I am painting about from the perspective of myself as a young woman.

I want to control the definition of vulgarity with my art.