Words are never neutral. The way that we use language to identify people, place, and things reveals our values and those of our society. Similarly, the images we choose to assign to our ideas and illustrated our words are never neutral. Most simply stated, my work explores the meanings associated with the language we use and the implications of these meanings. I appropriate visual and textual elements from all areas of visual culture in order to establish cross-cultural connections and renegotiate meanings. The significance of each comes from its relationship to another object. In other words, meaning occurs in the juxtaposition of objects.

In giving visual form to the hierarchies of the conventions of masculinity and femininity, I juxtapose gendered associations of colors, patterns, and figurative poses. These paintings are not intended to be portraits. Instead, the characters fill interchangable roles dictated by cultural standards in order to depict the politics of gender.