Generally I am drawn to the subjects I paint because initially I subconsciously see an element of myself in their life story and during the painting process I understand that part of myself more deeply. This can be a safe detached way to look at myself so I took on the not so easy task to look directly at what ingredients make up me by doing a self portrait.
Self portraits are a study of self identity and attachment. I drew upon my birth lineage and adopted lineage to include the triage that makes up me and reconstructed subconscious ancestral memories and told adopted, nurtured memories to weave my own tapestry of history.
From a somewhat detached viewpoint I have had the freedom to pick and choose elements from each ancestral lineage and appropriate them to fashion my own identity and sense of self.
The fox stole from my adopted maternal side would have traditionally been worn around the shoulders and now reflective of Sardinian carnival costumes. The Sardinian shawl from my natural father’s lineage is traditionally worn over the head and now reflective of how my adopted family wear a shawl.