Connar
Foley

My paintings are comprised of subject matter appropriated from a variety of autobiographical sources such as the church where I received my First Communion, or the foreclosed gas station by my parent’s house, to question the legitimacy of my sentimentality towards my own past experiences. I’m interested in problematizing the conventional narratives surrounding the agrarian community that I was raised in because it is renowned for its progressiveness, beauty, and adherence to traditional American values but is simultaneously steeped in homophobia, xenophobia, and white supremacy. It is my intention to push the sentimental beyond a reflexive response to a place I’m familiar with, and into an examination of the dangers of idealization.