The Weight of a Smile explores the distance between what a woman carries and what the world expects her to show.
At first glance, the figure appears to be celebrating. Her arms are extended, her body open, her silhouette suggesting freedom, confidence, even joy. But across the entire canvas, layers of white yarn form repeating stripes. What initially appears open begins to feel enclosed—almost like looking at the woman through bars.
The work reflects the emotional burdens women are often expected to carry quietly while continuing to smile, nurture, provide, perform, and reassure everyone around them. There can be an enormous distance between the woman the world sees and the woman living beneath those expectations.
The canvas itself is intentionally dense. Layers of yarn create physical weight, turning the material into part of the story. The burden is not only represented—it is carried by the work itself.
Yet the woman's arms remain open.
The Weight of a Smile lives within that contradiction: the appearance of freedom and the experience of confinement, the expectation of joy and the reality of exhaustion, and the strength required to carry what others may never see.
48 × 36 inches
Yarn & acrylic on canvas
Double-layered yarn · Ready to hang
The Weight of a Smile explores the distance between what a woman carries and what the world expects her to show.
At first glance, the figure appears to be celebrating. Her arms are extended, her body open, her silhouette suggesting freedom, confidence, even joy. But across the entire canvas, layers of white yarn form repeating stripes. What initially appears open begins to feel enclosed—almost like looking at the woman through bars.
The work reflects the emotional burdens women are often expected to carry quietly while continuing to smile, nurture, provide, perform, and reassure everyone around them. There can be an enormous distance between the woman the world sees and the woman living beneath those expectations.
The canvas itself is intentionally dense. Layers of yarn create physical weight, turning the material into part of the story. The burden is not only represented—it is carried by the work itself.
Yet the woman's arms remain open.
The Weight of a Smile lives within that contradiction: the appearance of freedom and the experience of confinement, the expectation of joy and the reality of exhaustion, and the strength required to carry what others may never see.
48 × 36 inches
Yarn & acrylic on canvas
Double-layered yarn · Ready to hang
