This is a work for me, lets me explore Leonardo Da Vinci work and his ideas and at the same time allowing think about my own thoughts about the ideal and gender. His Vitruvian Man is a smaller sketch in one of his book that represents the ideal proportion of man based on the note of the architect of Vitruvius.
As someone who was born with few birth defects I have never be ideal. It has always been a struggle for me to operate in the world especially when trying to fit in. Again like Da Vinci I to put my own likeness into this work.
Even though I am not ideal I have gone through a lot to be closer to what others think is ideal. For the first four years of my life I had to wear a contraption of boots and bars that bent and forced my feet to be in a more human like direction. I had to hop every I wanted to go. I also had repeatedly intensive mouth surgery that cut my palate in two so that I can have this offset smile I have today. I have considered open heart surgery multiple times to correct the dent in my chest that restricts my lung capacity to 75%. I also have double jointed elbows and knees that can catch people off guard when I am stretching or just standing comfortably. And their is also my constant struggle with my dyslexia. Which you might have noticed when you read my focus week blurb.

While working on this painting I was also thinking about a studio mate that stopped using pronouns to refer to themselves and a few kids that I have the privilege of working with who identify in a different way that a piece of paper says they are suppose to be identified as. For me this topic of gender and identity is an important one to stand up for. To encourage and empower people to be themselves whoever they see themselves as and less in conventions of what other people think is ideal. I formally turn Da Vinci’s concept upside down and backwards to represent my hope for a new way of seeing people as people.