Why Halo Portraits?

I paint women, in protest of the emotional or verbal abuse to us women. They all have scars, lines, or marks on their face and bodies as we all have the unhealed trauma of the abuse we had to endure. I've met some of these warriors or heros and their life stories through my tarot readings with them where they have opened themselves and shared their stories. Most of the women you get to see everyday hide their emotional and verbal scars behind their dresses, jewelry, makeup, and gorgeous smiles. But verbal and emotional abuse is hardly recognized as abuse, whenever we are being educated on the subject we only hear about the physical aspect of abuse, not the verbal or emotional abuse that gets inflicted. Most, like myself, were just struggling to become our dreams. Most of the verbal or emotional abuse we suffer as women is conditioned through fairy tales, movies or comedy, religion, and viewed as a "joke, a romanticized aspect of love or the need to be good submissive woman in the lord's eyes" and I am not suggesting that we eradicate these, but that we teach to see the meaning behind the words. teach the young generations to be equal, to know when to put a stop to an abuser. To request that we are treated as equal, that the fact that we shine bright is not to be frowned upon, but a great virtue we are born with. I crown each one with its halo as a reminder to worship, adore and love humanity. You will see I've given my men and animals halos too.

Still today WE, all women, struggled having our rights, our stories, our experiences and our voice validated. Where humans, no matter the color of their skin, social status or upbringing, need to find themselves secure enough to not harm us, use us, and listen to our voice, and respect us. So I became my own rescuer, my own strong and sometimes tired voice, my own advocate and believed in what I do, even when everyone said I couldn't. But I still fight everyday for my dream.


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