Joan Cox

Artist Statement

My work falls within the context of identity politics, with equal parts feminist agenda and lesbian narrative. I make paintings that are full of symbolic complexity and social relevance while also portraying women who are confident in their own sexuality. By taking the route of translating my own biography into a sort of composed fiction, I create works that present the viewer with images of intimate relationships between two women, acknowledging and emphasizing the female gaze.

I use a process of appropriation to insert lesbian narratives where patriarchal ideals have had a strong-hold on our visual memories. Through borrowing and building upon powerful, recognizable iconography, I create work that alters the narrative and subverts the erotic moments between the figures. My process usually begins by photographing a lesbian couple. I capture a couple’s personal dynamics, their individuality and their contemporary domestic spaces as my source material. When choosing to work from historical works of art that depict traditional male/female couples, I replace both figures with women but one is often more androgynous. I try to blur the lines between female and male identities by making gender distinctions more ambiguous and challenging viewers’ expectations. Only on closer inspection do the two female forms reveal themselves. I hope that my body of work will increase the visibility and awareness of lesbian women by presenting our relationships as socially, culturally and historically relevant.