We Are Women First.

Ethereal Figurative Painting Exploring Emotional Duality.

Artist Statement 

“We are Women First”: This painting is a meditation on womanhood beyond ethnicity. The two women facing one another—one Caucasian, the other a woman of color—are not presented as opposites, but as reflections. Their encounter symbolizes a shared emotional reality: regardless of race, women carry similar struggles, pains, resilience, and hopes.

Set within an ethereal, non-specific background, the figures exist outside of geography, culture, or time. This deliberate ambiguity removes social markers and places the focus on emotional truth rather than external difference. The space they inhabit becomes psychological and symbolic—a realm where lived experiences overlap and recognition replaces division.

Their quiet gaze suggests solidarity rather than confrontation. The painting invites the viewer to look beyond skin color and toward what unites women across boundaries: endurance, vulnerability, strength, and the desire to be seen and understood. It is not a narrative of difference, but one of shared humanity.

Composition

In “We are Women First,” The composition relies on near symmetry, placing the two women in direct visual dialogue. Their faces emerge from the same ethereal environment, reinforcing a sense of shared emotional space. Horizontal layers in the background create a calm rhythm and depth, while the linear contours of the figures provide clarity and restraint. The contrast between fluid atmosphere and defined facial features heightens the psychological tension of the encounter.

Artist Critic 

By placing two women of different ethnic backgrounds in an intimate, mirrored composition, the artist dissolves the visual language of separation. The work resists categorization and instead proposes emotional universality. The ethereal background acts as a symbolic equalizer, suspending the figures in a space where identity is felt rather than defined.

The restrained facial expressions and minimal line work emphasize psychological presence over physical distinction. In doing so, the painting challenges the viewer to confront their own assumptions and to recognize the common ground of womanhood—where struggle, hope, and resilience transcend race.

Style

• Contemporary figurative abstraction

• Symbolic and psychological expressionism

• Ethereal, emotionally driven color fields

• Minimalist line portraiture.

Influential Artists

• Pablo Picasso (late figurative works) – symbolic dual portraiture

• Amedeo Modigliani – introspective faces and emotional stillness