A play on the words pray and play, the series begins with a poem called A Daughter’s Prayer. In the fashion of how the Christian Lord’s Prayer is recited, the artist writes her own which beseeches a Divine Mother. It touches themes of patriarchal ownership of women’s bodies, agency and power to exercise choice. The visual manifestation of the series works with a playful but mature palette, the figures interact with orblike shapes as one would with a ball. It’s a nostalgic throwback to a time when we believed anything is possible. All these artworks were produced during an artistic residency at AKKA Project, Venice.
A Daughter’s Prayer
“Our mother
Which art
Give us this day our daily bread
Unbind us from to the shackles of the father’s priests
Untangle us from the curse of trading our happiness for our brothers’ own
Save us from the protection steeped in ownership
Of our bodies,
Our dreams,
Our desires.
Free us.
Free us from the weight
of unrealistic expectations
of the shame that seems abundant for us
Give us fancy.
So we may
Discover,
Explore,
Invent,
So we may live.”