Too Confrontational for Amsterdam
Unpacking Power, Privilege, and the Price of Silence
Too Confrontational for Amsterdam unpacks the uneasy, often unseen ties between animal rights and feminism - exploring power, privilege, and the cost of silence.
The title comes from a meeting I had with a respected gallery in Amsterdam. They admired my work, but ultimately declined to show it, telling me it was “too confrontational.” That moment stayed with me. It said everything. This is the confrontation we’re not supposed to have - about what we eat, what we wear, who we dismiss, and whose pain we normalize.
This series presents satirical yet unsettling scenes where a “perfect” middle-class white woman consumes and controls people dressed as animals - figures who cower, scream, or resign themselves inside cages. Here, the familiar social order flips: the oppressor is also trapped in the systems that feed her power, while those she dominates bear the scars.
These images challenge the patriarchal culture that reduces both women and animals to units - commodities defined only by their usefulness to others. Women, often seen solely in relation to men, share this confined identity with animals, whose lives are dictated by their value as food, entertainment, or fashion. By merging humans with animal traits, the work blends horror and humor to draw viewers into a deeper empathy and awareness of this fusion of oppression.
Rendered through watercolor and acrylic monotypes combined with photographic collage, the surreal scenes reveal the madness beneath everyday normalcy - the brutal realities behind animal farming and the insidious power dynamics embedded in popular culture. These images don’t ask for comfort. They ask for reckoning.
The title comes from a meeting I had with a respected gallery in Amsterdam. They admired my work, but ultimately declined to show it, telling me it was “too confrontational.” That moment stayed with me. It said everything. This is the confrontation we’re not supposed to have - about what we eat, what we wear, who we dismiss, and whose pain we normalize.
This series presents satirical yet unsettling scenes where a “perfect” middle-class white woman consumes and controls people dressed as animals - figures who cower, scream, or resign themselves inside cages. Here, the familiar social order flips: the oppressor is also trapped in the systems that feed her power, while those she dominates bear the scars.
These images challenge the patriarchal culture that reduces both women and animals to units - commodities defined only by their usefulness to others. Women, often seen solely in relation to men, share this confined identity with animals, whose lives are dictated by their value as food, entertainment, or fashion. By merging humans with animal traits, the work blends horror and humor to draw viewers into a deeper empathy and awareness of this fusion of oppression.
Rendered through watercolor and acrylic monotypes combined with photographic collage, the surreal scenes reveal the madness beneath everyday normalcy - the brutal realities behind animal farming and the insidious power dynamics embedded in popular culture. These images don’t ask for comfort. They ask for reckoning.
