Mystery Date (Rape)
Mixed Media, 2023.
20″ x 15″ x 2″
Oil on wood and paper with Mystery Date board and door, jeans, plastic wallet photo holder, book, hair.
This multi-media piece references personal memories of an all too familiar shared trauma. As that moment in time fades, the worst is buried in pain and secrecy, replaced with half-formed questions – what was real, what was imagined? But it irrevocably shapes the future self and influences concepts of trust, of power, of silence. A wallet filled with pictures of imagined conquests. A choice frozen in regret. Perception of propriety for women and girls. Revisionism is applied. Shame is silencing.