The Birth of Jenny

I have very contradictory feelings about nudity. As a mother of two children, I can have very conservative ideas when it comes to my kids, what I wear around my kids, what my kids wear.  I wear a one-piece swimsuit around them and a two piece when I am with my friends.  As an artist, I feel there is an appropriateness for nudity.  These two opinions collide when my art is created.  While I don’t have any images on the internet that are full on nude, I do have a lot of fine art images on my website that hints around it.  My kids have got pissed off before because their friends have gone on my website then made fun of them because of it. Sometimes I claim they are my friend, Francesca. I don’t have a friend, Francesca. 

When I was doing the research for Birth of Venus, I couldn’t wrap my head around how it ties into my life.  And then I was talking to my best friend on the phone, and I said, “I need those Groucho Marx disguise glasses to pull this one off.”  And it clicked with me.   

In my own rendition I awkwardly posed nude as Venus on the set of a photoshoot, unable to fully remove my disguise revealing myself completely. All the supporting actors on set became my own characters that play in my head. On the left I have an ogling male making gestures next to an overly critical woman scrutinizing every inch of my body, while on the right, I have the overprotective woman deeming the act as indecent, attempting to shield me from critique and cat calls, aiming to covering me up with her oversized scarf.