Two Joyces. Acrylic on Canvas, 2025

This painting is a rough draft for a larger work, inspired by Frida Kahlo’s Two Fridas. Kahlo painted her double self-portrait after her separation from Diego Rivera, showing two versions of herself holding hands, their hearts connected by a single vein. One Frida wears traditional Mexican attire and holds a locket with Diego’s portrait; the other, in a European-style wedding dress, represents another part of her identity.

In my painting, I reimagine this duality through my own lens. On the right, “Joyce” wears jeans, sneakers, and a hoodie, with rose-colored glasses. Her heart is whole, and she wears the necklace she found in Venice during graduate school—a reminder that she is, and always will be, an artist. In her hand she holds a locket containing a dove of peace.

On the left stands her counterpart, a figure shaped by her Indiana roots. She is blonde, thin, and always smiling, dressed in a red, white, and blue dress with a cross around her neck.

While deeply personal as a double self-portrait, this work also speaks to the broader political and cultural divisions running through our country today.