"Bearing Arms"
My current work in progress, Bearing Arms, explores the history and imagery of women holding swords through themes of power, violence, and play. I look at how women with weapons have been represented across time and what that says about strength, fear, beauty, and control. Through photography, bookmaking, and physical objects like engraved leather, I place myself into these narratives to question who gets to hold power and how it is perceived. The project lives somewhere between archival research and personal experimentation. At its core, it asks what it means for a woman to take up space while holding something traditionally seen as dangerous.
