acrylic on canvas, 8×10”

“For a woman, “no” is a loaded word– a word we struggle to conceive of as a complete sentence, when we’re even able to say it. Meant to be enthusiastic, happy, complicit, and submissive, to say “no” is to fail at all of the above. This piece finds joy in the “no” and in refusal to be complicit in our own oppression, to sacrifice for others, and to participate in patriarchy as mandated.”

ARTIST BIO: Zoe Yates is an artist currently attending the MFA Program at University of Cincinnati’s College of DAAP. She works primarily as a painter and ceramicist, cultivating a multimedia and flexible approach to making. Her work seeks escape and magic, using themes of gender, sexuality, and spirituality as a lens, with self-appointed freedom to play with color, texture, and more in order to make art that inspires pleasure.