Queer Erotic

In 2024 I finished my first erotic painting that was actually started some time in 2021. In doing something completely different than my usual work, my perspective began to shift in terms of how I want my work to connect to with culture, community, and conversation. While my work has always been drawn to emotional themes, feeling, and human connection - I’ve never actually explored the feeling of pleasure in my practice. When I completed this first piece [ The Sinners / till she cry, 2024 ] I was actually nervous to post it on my Instagram feed. It’s 2024 (at the time), I am an openly lesbian woman both online and irl - so what was I actually nervous about? I think the biggest obstacle for me was the societal pressure to avoid the taboo, discomfort, vulnerability. I did not want my work to become something to be avoided. That was the first time my own work made me feel uncomfortable in that way, so I decided to lean in. Not because I want to make the ton uncomfortable, but mostly because I want to contribute to shifting the perspective. I want people to be able to confront what is actually making them uncomfortable in the first place.

The other works in this series are pieces that were created during my 2025 Residency in Patton, PA, which is a very rural and conservative area. [Read about the culture shock I experienced immediately upon crossing into the state here (no shade, I’m just a woke city girl). ] I felt very out of place being somewhere so different than where I live, not having anything familiar around except my belongings, and just the overall culture of a small rural town in deep Pennsylvania. Something about being in a conservative area made me want to be more provocative. It made me appreciate my liberties of choice, my communities, pride month, kissing girls (my girl<3), and being radically progressive. Idk. Nothing crazy happened there. I think it was just a feeling of knowing that somewhere out there a person like me is living a completely different life experience.

Aside from my environment affecting the work I created during my residency, I do simply enjoy painting queer erotic scenes in a way that is visually interesting, and is less about the actual eroticism of the acts depicted. The point o the work is evoke the feeling of experiencing pleasure, while simultaneously representing the queer BIPOC community in soft, vulnerable human intimacies. I hope to continue to create work that normalizes queer sex and liberated pleasure - sparking conversations in hopes of softening the taboo. ‍ ‍