Strip Stripes

I paint to make sense of what my mind can’t always put into words.
After years—no, a lifetime—of living in a body I was taught to question, to criticize, to shrink, I’ve decided to turn toward it with love. Eating disorders, body dysmorphia, low self-esteem… they’ve been loud companions. But now I want to listen for a different voice.
We all deserve to be draped in flowers, bathed in color, and celebrated for simply existing. These paintings are a quiet, figurative journey through the beauty of being a woman—stripped down, not to diminish, but to honor our most vulnerable selves.
Yes, our bodies are only the book covers, and the real beauty blooms from within. But in this lifetime, I’ve been given this particular cover—this skin, these bones—and I am learning, slowly and stubbornly, to celebrate them. Even if it takes me the rest of my days.