A series created between 2018 and 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.

As an educator specializing in the English language, this was the artist’s attempt to amplify the usage of gendered terms and their various meanings when spoken aloud, often as calculated insults. Art is a mirror, it is said, and holding this mirror up to viewers might change how the words land for both the users and their targets.

Each painting is monochromatic, employing clear acrylic gloss and glitter to emphasize the offending words. These words are not easily visible when the viewer stands directly in front of the piece but rather when they move to catch the reflection of light on the gloss and/or glitter. This effect is employed to suggest that we rarely understand the motivation behind using such a word or even witness it being used. Even when we do, for some viewers or witnesses, it’s only by changing our perspective that we can understand its effect or the expected meaning in the speaker’s mouth.

This series is the artist’s effort to reclaim these words and strip them of the power they are intended to hold. Instead, the artist celebrates and owns being called these words. 

May we all be bitches, sluts, cunts, and whores, and wear the words with pride. 

Slut, October 4, 2018. 65 x 91 cm (25.5″ x 35.8″)
Materials: Stretched canvas, acrylic paint, glitter, gloss varnish

Whore, January 30, 2019. 65 x 91 cm (25.5″ x 35.8″)
Materials: Stretched canvas, acrylic paint, gloss medium, glitter, gloss varnish

Cunt, February 26, 2019. 65 x 91 cm (25.5″ x 35.8″)
Materials: Art Panel, gesso, acrylic paint, gloss medium, gloss varnish, glitter

Bitch, April 23, 2019. 65 x 91 cm (25.5″ x 35.8″)
Materials: Art Panel, gesso, acrylic paint, gloss medium, gloss varnish, glitter