Wilderness of Salt - Proposal

Women have always been punished for the simple act of questioning, saying no, or pushing back.

In the biblical narrative, Lot’s Wife was turned into a glistening token of salt for the sin of looking back—for witnessing the destruction of her family and home rather than blindly obeying the path ahead demanded by her husband.

I began this series, Wilderness of Salt, during a traumatic period in my own life. It was a way to psychologically connect to the greater whole of womanhood—from Eve to Typhoid Mary to Terry Barton to Mary Warren —women who have borne the burdens of a patriarchal society and the unhappy consequences of their own bad decisions. Today, as we navigate the rise of a legal and social framework designed to return women to a state of subjection, I’m returning to this project. In a world that still turns a blind eye to systemic abuse, disobedience in 2026 is often just another word for refusing to ignore the truth. It relects on the greater question - is it too late to fight back?

Wilderness of Salt launched with images of biblical and mythological women, balanced against their current day counterparts, paralleling historic regret with contemporary. The first in this series Lot's Wife takes inspiration from the Houseman poem:

Half-way, for one commandment broken,

The woman made her endless halt,

And she today a glittering token,

Stands in the wilderness of salt.

Behind, the vats of judgement brewing

Thundered, and thick the brimstone snowed;

He to the hill of his undoing

Pursued this road.

In later years the project took on a more biblical theme with a series called Even in the Garden followed by a psycholocial reflection on human nature in Inner Beasts and Leading with Anger. All of which relate back to the original theme of critically examining the historical and contemporary roles of women, the dynamics of power, societal influence, and identity.

Even in the Garden deconstructs prevalent myths, biblical narratives, and fairy tales to investigate their portrayal of women's societal positioning. This series posits that these foundational, often fictive, accounts symbolically represent the erosion of feminine power and the emergence of patriarchal structures. Tracing its conceptual origins from antiquity to the present, Even in the Garden scrutinizes the persistence of antiquated ideologies within contemporary contexts. The title itself underscores the pervasive and historical vulnerability of women, suggesting that even in archetypal paradises, women have faced systemic challenges.

Inner Beasts critically analyzes the pervasive societal conditioning that mandates female conformity from an early age, or else face disapproval and/or punishment. This phenomenon is exemplified by cultural dictates, such as those satirized in the film Barbie, which prescribe rigid standards of appearance and behavior. Such prescriptive norms necessitate a form of masking, wherein individuals conceal their authentic selves to mitigate scrutiny and adhere to prevailing social pressures. This series aims to reveal the underlying, often suppressed, authentic identities that exist beneath these performative facades.

Today, the series continues politically with Leading with Anger as inspiration, reflecting on the global sexual trafficing network uncovered with Jeffrey Epstein and continues unchallenged in the United States today.

Series includes:

Lot’s Wife, oil on burlap, 16x20

Even in the Garden, oil on burlap, 30x48

Banshee, oil on burlap, 30x38

Expulsion, oil on burlap, 35x22

Terry Barton, oil on canvas, 16x20

Joan of Rouen, oil on burlap, 18x22

Rose McGowen, oil on crazy house slate, 6x9

Inner Beasts, oil on canvas, 42x30

Be a Little Lamb, oil on canvas 42x30

Shoot the Dog, SD, oil on canvas, 42x30

Trinity, oil on burlap, 24x30