Summer 2020 Residency

 

Artist Statement: She Had It Coming

 

This series directly explores my own personal experiences with sexual harassment and assault.  My first experience of being made aware of my physicality and sexuality happened when I was 10.  I was sitting on a bench in front of my church wearing a denim mini skirt, drinking a “Slurpee” from 7-11.  Two grown men pulled up and said, “I can see your pussy”.  I had no idea what they were talking about, but they called me a slut and drove away. 

 

This series picks up at age 13, though those 3 years were hardly void of insults, harassment, and assaults.  These early experiences blurred the lines between consent and rape for me.  They taught me that my value was inextricably tied to my sexuality, and the only way to be loved was through sex, whether I wanted it or not. 

 

I have carried a sense of shame and embarrassment with me through my life up until now, and my hope is that by talking openly about it, it will be cathartic for my own healing and recovery, but more importantly keep the dialogue around rape culture in our country going.  “Boys will be boys” was never a valid excuse, and while our president and a certain supreme court justice would disagree, I call bullshit on them.