she has no mouth,
she can not scream.

She Has No Mouth, She Can Not Scream is a social commentary on the way society has normalised the subservience of young girls and women through media, marketing and cultural osmosis. It uses the famous children’s mascot Hello Kitty, who was designed without a mouth, as an example for the subtle ways in which these seemingly small choices can contribute to the larger problem of mass conditioning and child grooming. Whether intentional or not, this kind of symbolism does send a message - that good girls are to be seen and not heard.

Through the lens of the child perspective, this series is made across six 20cm x 20cm stretched canvases with a combination of overlapped text, bright pastel colours and child-like motifs, exploring the effects this kind of conditioning and grooming has on the young psyche. The naming of the artworks provide some insight into the ways these predators groom young girls and boys, based on lived experience and personal observation.

She Has No Mouth, She Can Not Scream!

Manipulating children? It’s easy, like taking Candy From A Baby.

This Is Why They Chose Her, because she is easily Silenced.

He who has a mouth is threatened.

“You’re a mongrel, a mutt, a bad Bad Dog!

If you open your mouth you’ll go to Jail.

Or worse! The morgue.”

The creation of this series was incredibly healing. I took the suffocating feeling of being unable to speak and channeled that into these hauntingly colourful paintings that genuinely healed something inside of me. In the process of creation i was able to break through those invisible barriers restraining my inner child, finally fighting back by screaming at the top of my lungs! The entire process culminated in one final piece titled, If There Ain’t One, I Will Make One. This title is a reference from Repo! The Genetic Opera, alluding to the newly created mouth of the previously mouthless Hello Kitty, a character that my inner child deeply identifies with.