"Iron Butterfly" for WOWxWOW’s Monochromatic 6 show - Oil on canvas, 11x14", 2023

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I took ballet lessons as a child and this piece is inspired by something one of my dance instructors told me. To remind the class to be aware of our posture and power in our movements, she would yell out “iron butterfly”, and her story behind that name was that even though ballet appears effortless like a floating butterfly, you need to be strong like iron in order to look that way. Only those who have put in the work to look graceful know how difficult it is, while those on the outside may think appearing weightless is easy. This makes me think about my parents and everyone I admire who seem unphased when facing hardship, they’ve only been able to present themselves in this way because of all the difficult experiences they’ve gone through to make them strong.