This painting narrates the personal story of Tara. Tara’s relationship with alcohol has been a struggle throughout her life. The bottle shaped outline on Tara’s arm pours from her finger symbolizing detoxification. Everything blue references her spiritual path, which has been a useful tool to help her stay focused on her goals of sobriety/moderation. The black halo suggests that one must know darkness to recognize the light.

 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.