Into the Womb

My collection of figurative paintings explores the alienation of reproductive bodies through the lens of reproductive politics, menstruation, and the variable weights of contraceptives, pleasure, and pain. Engaging with the uncanny valley concept, I depict natural bodily functions and fluids as both familiar and foreign, creating tension between the human and the artificial. Fluorescent pink hues and hyper-saturated digital elements evoke an otherworldly, almost alien atmosphere within the womb, cave-like environments.

Before bringing each piece to canvas, I construct these environments in 3D using the compositing software Blender. In this digital space, I import, distort, and shape models and objects to populate each scene. Many figures begin as generic 3D models of a reproductive body—models embedded with layers of unrealistic bias, feminization, and standardization, and ingrained sexism that reflect stereotypes of universality and idealized anatomy. I aim to evoke both recognition and repulsion by stripping these figures of hair and modifying them with hyperrealistic, wet skin textures and distorted anatomies. This transformation exposes the narrow, often objectifying standards imposed on reproductive bodies, highlighting the ways digital representations reinforce these ideals. Through this process, I seek to confront society’s repulsion toward natural bodily functions and the societal intrusion on reproductive autonomy.

Foreign objects like IUDs, tampons, Lysol, birth control pills, condoms, and vibrators appear alongside the figures, symbolizing the struggle between bodily autonomy and societal control. Other foreign objects appear alongside these reproductive symbols, such as candles, bread, wine, lanterns, and buckets, each carrying its own significance and play on words. My figures interact with these alien objects in ways that range from humorous depictions—like eating bread and drinking wine amidst a yeast infection in Yeast Infection, or figures playing and crying tears of joy during female ejaculation in Vibrator—to more somber moments, such as the fearful and desperate expressions of being tangled with metal in Clothes Hanger or being sprayed with disinfectant as a panicked form of contraception in Lysol.

Liquids within these scenes have transformative roles: semen spills from a broken condom into a pool of melting candle wax as a figure mournfully gazes at the candle flame; a female orgasm manifests as a playful water park, with a vibrator spiraling through streams of fluid as figures leap and rejoice, one even shedding tears that resemble the same liquid. Curdled discharge from a yeast infection splatters across a bakery environment where figures munch on bread and wine. Blood appears as lakes, oceans, pools, and even fills bathtubs and toilets, creating landscapes from what is typically hidden and stigmatized. This tension mirrors society’s discomfort with the natural processes of the reproductive body, where joy and pain, autonomy, and constraint coexist.

The viewer becomes an insider, peering into intimate yet alien spaces that challenge the boundaries between the natural and synthetic. Through this visual tension, my work reflects on the ongoing fight for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, urging viewers to reconsider the