Payton Harris-Woodard is interested in investigating complexities within the autonomy of the black female body through an autobiographical sense. Through the medium of oil paint, collage and handmade paper she utilizes various colors, invented form, and sinuous matter to build a personal catharsis that exists within both a heavy past, yet nuanced present. 

The nude, partially slit brown-yellow ochre figures incompletely explore the most human aspects of the body, while placing emphasis on the monstrous qualities of one’s psyche. In the viewer’s face, she reclaims self consciousness to reveal the emotional journey of being inside a body, and simultaneously reconciling with reflection, isolation, and difference on multiple dimensions.

Through transformation and control, the works celebrate the sticky bits of finding one’s own voice, and existing across virtual, real, casual and academic spaces.