This series of work, incorporating large, angry marks and colours, melded with quieter pastels to soften the message, deals with the challenge of communicating as a woman: be pleasant, not sharp, even if you are not particularly pretty by society’s standards, and happen to be quite angry at times.

The frustration is obscured, but it’s still there, asking:

How will you see me if I am not pretty?
How will you hear me if I am not screaming?

What I’ve been trying to say, over my whole life, is buried under introversion and attempts at being polite, often missing the mark. What would happen if I tried to get all that down, and then worked on making the message palatable? Much like the men who always told me to smile more, I’m trying, but frustrated.

These pieces are another way to try to express that same message. The techniques, ranging from early, full-bodied mark-making and visceral layers of scraped molding paste, to soft watercolour washes, scribbled analog collages, and detailed scans of geometry diagrams, are layered, printed onto paper, and then gouged into with embossing tools to echo the original marks buried in the piece. If you look closely, you can see the angry marks below the surface, referencing how hard you might need to listen to hear the messaging coming to you.

The works are available as limited edition prints, each a unique variation, with embossing, indents, and punctures added to each print by hand. The story behind the work is in Getting the Message Across.