Make It Pretty

Acrylic, flashe, ink, and coloured pencil on canvas.

48x54x1.50"

"It isn’t pretty. The tears, the sobbing, the pain. To make her healing pretty would be to banish the true beauty that exists in her suffering.

The expulsion of fluids,
the exorcism of anger,
the release of rage,
the acceptance of failure,
the realization of triumph…
it’s all so incredibly breathtaking in the most sacred, human way;
but there’s nothing pretty about it.

‘Make it pretty so it sells,’ they say.

But she can’t reduce the experiences of her heart down to pretty.
They’re so much more than that.

She honours Herself and her story in all its uncomfortable, graphic, carnal glory."

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The She’s A Sweet Peach collection is a satirical body of work that explores the way North American society perceives and speaks about women and the female body. In reference to the overused peach emoji in popular culture, women’s body parts are often compared to the likeness of fruit: either ripe, juicy and begging to be enjoyed; or rotten, past its prime, ready to be discarded, no longer valuable if slightly bruised, imperfect, or showing signs of age. A fruit serves one purpose - it is meant to be consumed, it is not permitted to just “be”.

LaCaria presents the concept of the contemporary woman as a ripening peach on the brink of expiry through an exploration of themes rooted in alternative lifestyles, the patriarchy and sexuality that have been explored in the past by classical male artists through their objectification of the female body. By removing the figurative representation of the female body from the conversation, LaCaria is relying on the suggestive nature of peaches to represent female body parts - arguably a more uncomfortable experience for the viewer than the commonly digested and accepted visual of an objectified female body.

Instructions & criticisms to the artist are handwritten in each frame to inspire doubt in the viewer as to whether the works are complete or in progress; a commentary on how women’s quest for equality, self-betterment & professional aspirations seems to be a constant “work in progress”, ever-changing, shifting, but also perfectly imperfect.