During the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to participate in a weekly challenge of suggested concepts and example photos for an online group for women photographers. Working with other women, and looking specifically at photographic works created by other women or nonbinary photographers, I found new ways of looking at photography and its potential. My self-portraits turned out to be the most unique of the weekly photos I created. Self-portraiture can be a therapeutic way of comforting yourself in a time of crisis. Sharing your self-portraits with others, exposing yourself deeply, can bring about a sense of intimacy in a lonely time. I found myself creating feminist art, showing a woman differently than a male photographer would have.

I seek to expand our thinking about women and womanhood by portraying myself in ways that turn traditional attitudes upside-down, often literally. I challenge our notion that aging necessarily brings about a loss of vitality and sexuality. I insist on our right to self-definition from within, to freedom from the confines of being defined by others.