Lesbian of The Year is a painting of a female figure shoved into a composition that looks too small for her to sit in comfortably. She’s covered in lavenders and reds, lavender to represent the Lesbian inclusionary group Lavender Menace. This work is to talk about the uncomfortable and isolating feeling it is to be a lesbian growing up in a small rural town in a red state. Even in queer friend groups, I was the only lesbian which created a sense of uncomfortable unease, so I wanted to represent that within a painting.

Drunk Tank is an exploration of color with a medium that I barely have touched on before, while sticking to what I like in art: figures, dynamic scenes, and uncomfortable moments that bring an unease to viewers. Using chalk pastels to practically match the skin towns while playing with vibrancy of colours and shadows, I use greens and reds to push and pull contrast on the two figures so that you can feel the surrealism of the pieces and how they lay together on the paper. A haunting composition with a vibrant background where it creates a parallel of beauty and fear. A vague composition to allow the viewers to make their own interpretation of the two figures and what their story is.