The Pre-Raphaelite Essence
This body of work explores armor as a physical object and a symbolic one. Across the series, armor appears not only as something to be worn, but as something constructed, whether it be through beauty, sanctity, adornment, or the body itself. These works challenge traditional ideas of protection by presenting it as soft, ornamental, or deeply personal.
Drawing from Pre-Raphaelite aesthetics and mixed media practices, these pieces explore how femininity, devotion and embellishment can function as defensive forms rather than vulnerabilities. Together, these works function to suggest that survival sometimes depends not on hardness, but that beauty, adornment, and fragility can coexist with burden, resistance, and survival.
Adornment
This painting, Adornment, is an oil painting on canvas panel, approximately 16x24 inches, incorporating beadwork and botanical embellishment. The mixed-media elements extend beyond the flat surface of the canvas and become a three-dimensional aspect that introduces weight, texture, and physical presence to the piece. The painting is inspired by John Everett Millais, Ophelia (1851-52) and the William Shakespeare play, Hamlet.
Adornment has historically been associated with femininity. Jewelry, embellishment, and ornament have often been dismissed as superficial despite the cultural, spiritual, and social significance. In this work, adornment is used as a form of armor.
The beadwork and surface embellishments in the painting transform beauty into an act of endurance, as each element took time and care to place. The botanicals framing the body act as a protective structure. While adornment has been used to signify devotion, mourning, status, or belonging, in this painting it serves as a response to vulnerability. The act of adorning the body becomes a way to assert control over how the body is seen and remembered.
Beauty is not presented as a weakness in this painting, but a strategy of protection.