Ode to O (2016 - 2020)
Inspired by the enlarged flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, this work-in-progress combines collaged images of women and flowers from vintage and contemporary women's fashion and horticultural magazines. Critics, largely male, speculated that her internal views of flowers, stamens, and reproductive areas, referenced female genitalia and sexual identity, which she denied.
“I do know the flower is painted large to convey my experience with the flower.” - O'Keeefe
The images will be blown up to life size to display on windows, billboards, and/or mirrors as a reworking of the female gaze, and to continue to explore the control of animals and nature in a patriarchal climate. Inspired also by the study of mirror neurons in neuroscience, but also Gallup's Mirror Test, and Eastern philosophies, the work is also a meditation on nature and man's destruction of Mother Earth, with a participatory approach.
“I do know the flower is painted large to convey my experience with the flower.” - O'Keeefe
The images will be blown up to life size to display on windows, billboards, and/or mirrors as a reworking of the female gaze, and to continue to explore the control of animals and nature in a patriarchal climate. Inspired also by the study of mirror neurons in neuroscience, but also Gallup's Mirror Test, and Eastern philosophies, the work is also a meditation on nature and man's destruction of Mother Earth, with a participatory approach.
