Press Image, still from "Beluga Burlesque", 2022
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Beluga Burlesque, Iterative Performance
"He Died for Our Fins" Diptych, 72" x 48" InkJet on Satin, 2021
Staged Photograph, Created by Merissa Mann, Photographed by Meka Tome. *photographs and sculpture available for collection
No Birds Were Harmed in the Making, 77" x 21", Mixed Media, 2021
Bottarga, or Next on the List, Mixed Media, 2022
Artist Statement
Expanding beyond the medium of painting, my staged photographs and multi-media soft sculptures focus on the illegal trafficking and maiming of endangered species vis-a-vis camp aesthetics and a critical sense of humor. The sensual glamour of the materials stands in contrast to the brutal subject matter, at once appealing and repellent. Anthropomorphic costumes blur the distinction between female and fish, comingling the formal characteristics of the two. My latest ecofeminist performances explore the parallels between women and animals’ reproductive rights, both of which are threatened by patriarchal hegemonic systems of consumption and control.