Red Marks Bloom Beneath the Floating Balloons
Found photos, acrylic, puff paint, string, found jewels on canvas
18 x 24 inches
 
In Red Marks Bloom Beneath the Floating Balloons, I confront the ways identity can be policed long before we fully understand who we are. Using found photographs layered with bright acrylics, chaotic marks of puff paint, and scattered embellishments, the work merges scenes of domestic intimacy with festive, almost childlike imagery—balloons, patterns, and bursts of color.
This juxtaposition speaks to a tension I felt growing up: the expectation to perform masculinity, to stay within the boundaries of “boy things,” and the punishment that followed whenever I drifted toward softness, flamboyance, or play associated with femininity. The central figures—both vulnerable and unguarded—become stand-ins for those moments when self-expression was met with discomfort or discipline.
The surface is intentionally agitated: red streaks slash across the composition, string tangles around the bodies, and marks hover like unresolved emotions. The decorative elements, once symbols of celebration, instead hang above the scene like spectators.
Through this piece, I’m exploring how shame and policing of identity imprint themselves early, leaving marks that bloom long after the moment has passed.