Self-Portrait with Green Carnation

2019
Oil on canvas
3.5’ x 3.5’

This self-portrait was created to both celebrate the concept of gender and identity in bloom. Created not long after I came out as non-binary, I wanted to try and capture the feeling of being overwhelmed by something that had so long sat dormant inside of me. There is beauty in this discovery, which is why I wanted to express it through use of a flower — and one steeped heavily in LGBTQAI+ history. In Victorian England green carnations used to be worn by gay men and supporters of Oscar Wilde after his incarceration. It is a celebration and expression of gender, while trying to capture the all-encompassing nature of identity.