Armies of Me
Figure with Fist, 2016
Armies of Me was a series where I first began cutting out the figures, and layering patterns and textures into their surfaces. Severed female figures grew into transformed beings, with still holding and composting traces of destruction within. Earlier versions of this process also included small soldiers and rifles, layered into the larger bodies, until they were integrated into the whole figure. Armies of Me was a natural extension of the work in Artificial Romance, from a few years before.
Artificial Romance
Haremfictions, 2008
This group of works came together in a show called Artificial Romance at Five Myles Gallery. Using layered abstracted Orientalist images of so-called “harem women,” arabesque and camouflage patterning, and self-portraiture, the works alluded to contradictions between exotic ideas about Egyptians and Arabs and the ongoing imperial militarization of the region.