Artist Statement
My work is an exploration of the complexity of the human experience, rooted in the internal struggles that shape identity. Drawing deeply from personal experience, including my ongoing challenges and victories with depression, I use portraiture as a space to examine vulnerability, resilience, and survival. These internal battles—often unseen—inform both my subject matter and my process, shaping an empathetic lens through which I observe others and myself.
Cristina’s Gaze, my M.F.A. thesis exhibition, was presented during the first week of March 2025 at Circa Popup Gallery in downtown Montreal, Quebec. The exhibition features portraits of men who appear composed and strong while quietly enduring pain. This duality serves as an analogy for my own experience: learning how to exist, succeed, and even thrive while carrying invisible struggles. The men I paint are projections of myself, viewed through a compassionate and generous gaze. Some are key figures in my life; others stand in as symbolic survivors. All embody empathy, endurance, and emotional depth.
In a cultural moment where discourse often centres on toxic masculinity, this body of work intentionally presents men in a positive light, highlighting their best characteristics—emotional intelligence, tenderness, and strength through vulnerability. As a woman, I see the goodness of men as something too easily overlooked, and my work seeks to affirm and support their excellence rather than diminish it.
Ultimately, my practice is not only about struggle, but about triumph. It is about honouring the beauty that emerges from resilience and acknowledging the quiet power of empathy—toward others and toward oneself.