I struggle with the notion of what a woman is. My work explores what it means to be a woman and the struggle to understand all that entails. I create large intimate paintings from images that women have submitted and from selfies that my daughter has taken. I also create public art installations and video from public engagement projects.
Motherhood opened a world within me that is both painful and empowering. Causing me to reevaluate the roles I have resisted and submitted to, and how I see myself as a woman.
Using my daughters’ selfies, I am able to capture the complexity of the mother/daughter relationship. Experiencing my daughter’s adolescence has awoken memories, causing a deep reflection on how our childhood shapes us as women, and the role vulnerability plays in our development.
Working with images that women have submitted allows me to step back and see a broader view of the female experience. I use social media as a communal aspect of my process that takes me out of the isolation of my studio and expands my understanding of women outside of my own experiences.
“Thank you my Venice Sister! You have a awakened a pride in me that I haven’t felt in a long time regarding our hometown of Venice”
“Through the West of Lincoln Project I have been able to reconnect with old friends and remember the amazing chapter in my life that is the formative time for who I am now.
You have reignited my deep passion for painting and renewed the value of it in my life.
Love from rainy England”
“Everybody earns a second chance just like Eddie Hadvina in West of Lincoln Project”
“Growing up in Venice, I learned that we all make a choice in life – we choose where we want to live in our consciousness, and how we want to spend our precious days on this earth”
“Beautiful work Ruth! It’s so awesome that there are people like you that grew up in Venice and want to help share the history and stories of this place. I love Venice”
