The Anatomical Jewel (2024) is an exhibition born from the unwept tears of a woman navigating modern societal struggles and expectations. I channel that energy into creating decadent sculptures bejeweled and bursting with color! This is my own way of making the mundane, the brash, and the painful, into something beautiful. A re-imagining of a truth often too brutal to keep in your memory, or too uncomfortable to talk about out loud. The Anatomical Jewel seeks to explore the balance between the hard truths and the taboo ways in which we collectively heal from them as women, as queer, as ‘other’, in a homogenous society bent on destroying that flicker of a unique heart.

I remember becoming aware of my own body and the effect it has on the world around me at an age that is far too young for comfort. All women today can tell you of that unwilling awareness, of the uncomfortable glance from a strange man on the street, their mothers pulling them tightly to their sides whispering under their breath to stay close. That same man telling a child far too young that, “You are a beautiful girl who will surely break hearts one day.” I remember the bullying in school over whose body looked the best, who wore the smallest skirt, who wouldn’t put out. It’s the feeling that nowhere is safe, not even the family party with the uncomfortable touchy-feely uncle who insisted on tickling me when I was 17. “Oh, that’s just how he is. Just stay away from him.” My voice forever caught in my throat, frozen completely under the chains of a trained and obligatory submission, perpetuated by your friends, your family, your religion, the people you learn from and look up to. I learned very early on that it was my job to control how people treated me. It was my job, and not theirs, to control their hands. It was my job to park under a streetlight in a dark parking lot, to interlace my keys between my fingers ‘just in case’, to never leave my drink unattended, to never say no too loudly or too frankly, ‘because you don’t want them to be angry with you and lash out.’ This developed into an innate and fundamental understanding that my body wasn’t my own, but open for the eyes and the judgement of anyone who felt some sort of ownership to it. The constant sentiments that I always needed to be thinner, look better, smile more, be kind, be quiet. All of these labels and conditions were branded on me from the moment I had the ability to understand words and the power they hold. It’s the tax you pay for womanhood, for otherness, for your frailty and softness. The tax that slowly takes away the pieces of what makes you who you are and what you’re made of.

The Anatomical Jewel takes the words that have hidden behind years of being told I’m too loud, and makes them into something you can touch, something beautiful. My sculptures are a safe space, an outstretched hand of comfort and acceptance, a bejeweled and glistening reminder that being loud, and in your face, and unapologetic should be celebrated! I want this exhibition to be a space to honor those journeys, to celebrate authenticity, and to inspire a future where our voices are not silenced but heard at top volume! To spotlight that our vulnerabilities are actually our strengths, and where our true selves are not just accepted, but understood.