Throughout my work I have always been drawn to different forms of trauma; whether physical, mental, and/or emotional, particularly that which effects women.

The long-terms effects of trauma, the intertwined physical and mental effects, and how they resonate and remain in the body, can be found in the physical form of the canine figure. Post-conflict remnants are displayed through vulnerable figures, while mid-event conflicts are displayed with the figure immersed or ‘trapped.’ The lingering echoes of trauma can be displayed through dynamic, renaissance-like staging of the figures as well as the underlying violence.

     The canine figures do not represent an individual, nor particular group, but instead represent the violence in a physical form. They are now interwoven in the figure’s realm, creating their own space and have become something the figure must incorporate into their own life; to live amongst.

The use of backlight and/or glow in the dark paint is to accentuate the hidden trauma. What cannot be seen in the ‘light.’ Transforming the room into a dark, shadowed place creates a different realm for the viewer, and allows them to see what would otherwise be hidden without the special “lens” of the blacklight.

    Cutting into the canvas is a physical act of removing the surface, which can be translated to isolating figures even more, as a metaphorical tide rises to further strand them.

     My figures remain in a realm of reliving, facing the trauma directly and indirectly.