underpuppy studios

I'm a queer, disabled painter and muralist based in Durham, NC. I work in a naive figurative style, centering candid portraits of femmes in moments where they feel free from the pressure to perform. It can feel voyeuristic to witness people at ease, since that is rare for me. I process that experience of witnessing something I struggle to access through my art. In contrast, in nature I feel at home. I frequently set portraits against bold botanicals to honor that connection and to explore the tension between a natural world that makes sense, and a human world that I sometimes feel alien to.