Visual Art – Ottawa
A twenty-year-old painter and visual artist from the small town of Rockland, Ontario. Graduate of Fleming College-Haliburton School of Art + Design’s Visual and Creative Arts Diploma and Painting and Drawing Certificate.
After struggling to identify, understand, and relate to myself and my own body for years, I turned to self-injury. I de-valued myself and my body in what most of the world views as an extremely stigmatized and unhealthy coping mechanism. Coming to terms with my scarred-skin and damaged body is what truly sparked my desire to claim ownership. With ownership comes responsibility, care, love, acceptance, and most of all, strength. Every individual’s body is their own, and I want to emphasize that even when a body is in the ‘vulnerable’ state of nudity, it is still never anyone’s to have or take. Trying to break the barriers around nudity and encourage self-acceptance and empowerment, I want to break the stigma surrounding gender and sexuality, emphasis that a body is not inherently sexual (it is our desires that make it so), and to encourage seeing the beauty in what society has deemed flawed or imperfect.
During my first year at Haliburton School of Art + Design in 2017, my admiration for nudity blossomed after stumbling upon a photo of a woman online promoting body positivity. This led me to start painting nude portraits, first of myself, and then beginning a whole series including many others.