HOT HOUSE HYRIDS II
The Hot House Hybrids series I and II play with the metaphorical connection between flowers and the female or feminine and celebrate a diverse group of women, transformed and unified by bold color, pattern and natural forms that re-affirm the female connection to nature and the earth. These women are anonymous, the result of an internet search for images of women wearing wigs, but the outlines of their faces and hair suggest identity. The wig both conceals natural appearance and embellishes or enhances it and becomes an embodiment of women's struggles to define self and accept power, to re- imagine and recreate self in the face of cultural stereotype and norms for beauty. Exploring the metaphorical connection between gardening and making art, I combine photographs from my garden with watercolor to create digitally layered compositions that hover somewhere between the mediums of photography, collage, and painting.