From Willendorf to the Venus of Milo. The Venus figures are usually associated with fertility and representation of the ideals of beauty. I took that reference and created a figure that represented women like me nowadays that are not usually represented in a positive light. I suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and this condition comes with both external and internal struggles. I decided to represent all of these struggles in an installation I created for my BFA thesis. After the show, I received a lot of comments from people of all ages commenting how they had the condition or knew someone and didn't dare to talk about it. Reproductive health is very private and in my own experience, letting out was the best thing I could have done for my health. Nonetheless, I continued using the figure and simplified it in a flat representation to show a Venus with present challenges related to our lifestyles, such as massive reproductive and hormonal problems, while encouraging self-acceptance and healing while dealing with a society that expects nothing but insecurity and scrutiny for not conforming to the traditional beauty standards. Not everybody wants to see a fuller figure in paintings or photography unless they are tastefully represented, but I like to make my images as bright as possible. I started putting them on different surfaces and even products, but at the end of the day, the canvases are my favorite way to have my Venus, they are meant to travel with me.
After drawing this Venus repeatedly, I started to create tiny canvases (3x3in usually) with compositions using the shape and put them in various places in different cities. So far, I have put them in Sevilla, Berlin, Santiago of Chile, London, Vancouver, and New York.
