Rich Auntie — Original Artwork

Rich Auntie is part of The Pieces That Made Me Whole series, an ongoing exploration of how experiences throughout life accumulate to form who we become.

Rich Auntie represents a woman who has grown fully into herself: confident, accomplished, stylish and unapologetically visible. Her form is constructed through layers of contrasting textiles, fur, embroidery, metallic embellishments, tassels, and dimensional elements. Materials traditionally associated with fashion and adornment become part of her physical architecture, blurring the boundaries between portraiture, collage, sculpture and design.

Like the women throughout The Pieces That Made Me Whole series, Rich Auntie is composed of difference: softness beside structure, refinement beside roughness, pattern beside pattern. Rather than competing, those individual elements become stronger through their relationship to one another, reflecting the experiences, contradictions and transformations that make a person whole.

Her face, neck and hand are formed from layers of sand, a recurring element throughout The Pieces That Made Me Whole series. The sand represents the idea that everything she has experienced in life, both good and bad, has given her a thick skin.

Most significantly, portions of Rich Auntie's figure extend beyond the boundaries of the frame. She is not contained by the space originally prescribed for her. She has grown beyond it.

Rich Auntie celebrates the confidence that can come from knowing who you are, honoring what shaped you and allowing yourself to take up space.