Pomegranate Series
3 paintings of juicy pomegranates that tackle the imagery of feminism, queerness, and feeling comfortable within the body.
I created this pomegranate series a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned in the US. A heated time in history. I wasn’t necessarily attempting to be political with this body of work, but if we are being frank, your existence as a minority in this country is a political statement whether you want to realize it or not. I created these paintings to reclaim my own body and to reclaim what it means to me to be a queer woman in society.
As I Live and Bleed
Acrylic on wood cradled panel
20x24 inches
2023
In the piece “As I Live and Bleed”, I was interested in addressing a multitude of themes. Menstrual health, trauma, and the beauty of our cycles. Periods are such a taboo topic in society, particularly during adolescence. It is whispered about in hallways at school, and secretly sneaking a tampon to your friend in class. When you would accidentally bleed through your pants and your teacher would make you go to the lost and found to pick up someone’s forgotten gym shorts, resulting in ridicule and harassment for the rest of the school day.
My very first period was a traumatizing event for a 13 year old, as it is for most of us I would think. We are not really sure what is happening to our bodies and there isn’t necessarily a how to guide, unless you count the 2000s book the ‘American Girl: The Care of Keeping You’ which taught a good chunk of us 00s teens on how to shave our armpits, and insert a tampon with “girlie” fun cartoon depictions. The biggest helpers however, in my puberty years were my peers. Girlhood was more than just discussing teen heartthrobs and lipgloss, we helped each other battle our bodies that were changing so profusely.
This painting was indeed a healing and special painting to me personally. There are certain bodies in society that are viewed through an unnatural lens, when all of our bodies (no matter the shape, race, gender, size, etc.) ARE natural and something that we should not have to whisper about or hide.
Instead of feeling gross during my cycle, with this painting I am able to see that actually my body is a work of art!
Change of perspective…
When you flip the piece it offers a different perspective displaying the point of view of a spectator.
An Ode to Persephone
Acrylic on wood cradled panel
12x16 inches
2023
This piece embodies queerness but also the goddess of Persephone and her tale.
The story of Persephone varies from publication to publication but one that I found profound was this:
Persephone is the Ancient Greek goddess of spring and queen of the underworld. She was daughter of Zeus and Demeter and the wife of Hades. Her marriage to Hades is often romanticized even though Hades literally kidnapped her to be his bride in the underworld. When he did this Persephone’s mother Demeter (who is the goddess of harvest/agriculture) was so upset, she proclaimed that everything on earth must die until her daughter was returned to her. This resulted in all of the trees losing their leaves, the flowers stopped blooming, and the crops stopped growing. Meanwhile Persephone, being held captive, knew she could not eat or drink anything in the underworld, because if she did she would be forced to stay there forever. At this point, Demeter had enough and told Hades that if her daughter was not returned to her there was going to be a massive problem. Hades half heartedly agreed to return Persephone to her mother, but as he was preparing for Persephone to return, he tricked her into eating 6 pomegranate seeds, which then made their marriage permanent and forced her to stay in the underworld for 6 months out of the year. After those 6 months when she returns from the underworld, flowers bloom and life returns to earth’s soil, thus demonstrating the changing of seasons, and her being the goddess of spring.
I think this story is a great commentary on how we view women in society, particularly when this story has been romanticized in modern times. I painted this piece as an ode to the goddess Persephone and what she represents. This piece felt very liberating towards her story as well as symbolizing the liberation of queerness. The death tarot card representing new beginnings, new life, and newfound love for one’s self.
Fruit has often been used as a symbol of queerness.
In more modern and recent times the rise of pomegranate symbolism has been adopted by queer women communities because of the multifaceted nature of the fruit. The mythological aspects in regards to Persephone, representing transformation and rebirth resonates with the experience of queer women. As well as the aesthetic appeal of the red and pink colors and textures of the fruit.
Fruits of Our Labour
Acrylic on Cradled Wood
11x11 inches
2023
“Alexa play ‘Labour’ by Paris Paloma”
I found this reference photo off an app called Unsplash, which is a really useful resource for artists or anyone who needs stock photos. It has a wonderful photographer community who offer some of their artwork for free to use it how you please.
This was actually the first piece I painted from my pomegranate series. I was causally browsing the Unsplash app for a pomegranate photo to practice painting with. At this point I knew I wanted to paint a pomegranate series, but I was unsure of the direction I was going to take with it. I came across this photo and needed to paint it immediately. This painting triggered the ideas for my next 2 pieces, thus resulting in my little pomegranate trilogy.
With this piece I wanted to depict liberation and the knife represented a key symbolic imagery of that.
In July and August of 2023 all 3 of my pomegranate series were featured in a group exhibition called “Matrix Reclaimed” presented by The Fishbowl Art Gallery in Seattle, Washington.
(Graphics provided by The Fishbowl Art Gallery)
This was the first time my work was featured in a curated gallery exhibition! One thing about connecting with different artists and art communities online is that you’re able to find opportunities from all over the globe/country. Shoutout to my art friend Lisa Maberry for thinking of my pomegranate series for this exhibition, she inspired me to apply, which was completely outside of my comfort zone at the time. Up until this point I had next to no knowledge about the “art world” and was primarily self taught until I took online art classes with Sari Shryack from Not Sorry Art. Now that I have dipped my toes in a few gallery exhibitions, I fear this is just the beginning and I am excited to see where the future will take me and my art!
Thank you for taking the time to read my first blog post and for joining me on my creative journey!
