sant'agata iv Drawing

I am in constant exploration of pervasive cultural imagery related to Sant’Agata and Santa Lucia, both from Sicily. Their martyrdom was to be admired, their adherence to the church’s idea of virginity applaudable, even the outcome of extreme bodily trauma and violence resulting in death. My work is a reclamation of the physical body, taught to me as a manifestation of shame in the light of religiosity. At a time when bodies are continually debated and questioned in the public sphere, my work reinforces the validity of personal bodily agency and autonomy beyond the purview of the state, the church, the patriarchy, the norms of colonialism, and the lens of white supremacy. My practice of framing the bodies is consistent with the tradition of Catholic altars created to honor saints and martyrs; my offering in framing these pieces is an amelioration of the tradition. I honor these bodily representations and female martyrs such as Sant’Agata and Santa Lucia, with a reverence to the body, but not out of a desire for a warped and false idea of purity or any aesthetic ideal. I repair and reuse found objects in Sicily as a reclamation and restructuring - a literal reframing - of the context of the body and beingness in the world. I work in ink, a non-erasable media, as a means of reinforcing that there are no mistakes in my representations of the body, just as there are no mistakes or innate judgement in or of the body itself. Every body that I draw is emblematic of a Santa Lucia, a Sant’Agata.The facelessness of the figures is representative of the historic and continued erasure of identity that is easily prescribed to women and femmes the world over. Through my art, I interrogate this identity and agency bound within and beyond the body, inviting others to consider the traumatic historicism behind patriarchy and gendered constructs.

Drawing:Ink on Pen

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:6.7 W x 7.8 H x 1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.