Tala Worrell

My paintings describe the sensory process of coming to know myself from the inside and out. Painting is how I negotiate the relationships between various parts of myself: east and west, religious and secular, familial and individual, and psychological and somatic. My process is investigative and personal where I use the memories, traditions, and experiences of my Arab/American/Muslim upbringing, a personal history of eating disorders, and the windy path to reconciliation through horseback riding as material for performances, installations, photographs, videos, and drawings. These studies across media inform the abstractions, compositions, movements, rhythms, colors, and actions that make up the paintings. 

The final component of my practice is curatorial. I do not establish a hierarchy between works; each painting is its own world, asks its own questions, and comes to being on its own terms. A show is a moment to curate from the works I have on hand with an eye to resisting conventions of display that prioritize order and sameness. It is a site to propose a position rather than a venue for display. Finally a show, installation, or exhibition is an opportunity to penetrate the social space that painting creates with an unapologetic, militant, and embodied femininity.