ART: TIANA TRAFFAS In my art, I often paint and draw the female form. I explore the portrait or body to reveal what tender memories and emotions are stored within. Sometimes I even use parts of my body or my daughter's hands to make monoprints. Using our bodies in this way, I can dive deeper into the residual effects of growing up in a patriarchal world and strict Christian church. These institutions shaped how I view my body, and the harmful stories I carried for so long influenced my relationship with menstruation, sex, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. There are many things left to unlearn to empower my young daughter and me. I create work that thematically explores the taboos of motherhood. Untitled | colored pencil and watercolor on paper | 2020
Always Lonely, Never Alone | Acrylic, tea, baking paper and thread on paper
PAGE 36 | THE PURPOSEFUL MAYONNAISE
