This painting narrates the personal story of Kianah. At a young age, Kianah went through the traumatic experience of losing both her parents. Without a stabilizing support system she developed a dependency on men to care for her. As of lately, she has made substantial strides toward her independence and has achieved her dream career. She has grown a backbone so to speak, as metaphorically implemented in the painting and now independently supports herself. The dots represent her history of codependency. The warrior paint across her chin represents her perseverance and native heritage (Athabaskan and Sioux). The circle represents wholeness, and the triangle represents the womb/yoni.

I use the technique of chiaroscuro (high contrast from light to dark) to reference how a woman’s depth can only be rendered with her darkest of shadows present as well as her light. I want to step away from the assumption that the female nude has to be reduced to dehumanized sex symbol or an allegorical figure of purity to be well received. The personal stories of female subjects are scarcely told and often censored. I intend to show that beauty is incomplete without the humanizing experiences that a woman obtains throughout her life. I utilize wood as the foreground to illustrate the raw nature of the content