BENEATH THE SURFACE
Exploring the exploitation of human beings by human beings.

TREAD UPON

Tread Upon
An Interactive Perspective on Patriarchy
2021
55” x 97”

Tread Upon visually brings forth an important conversation, an invitation to learn, evolve.
Repetition suggests conformity, culturally perpetuated in a myriad of ways, often swept under the rug.
Menstrual pads, for women only. White, suggesting purity, wholeness. 
Blood represents life. Menstrual blood, womanhood.
Crochet, a domestic art, women’s work. 
Tread upon, like a rug, disregarded, disrespected, dishonored, blue sky dreams trampled.
Blood stains, egg shaped. Birth. New beginnings.
Repetition suggests solidarity, joining together in our individuality, women with men, to shift perspective to equality for all. 

DOORMAT

Doormat
2022
27”x21”

PATRIARCHAL PLAY

Patriarchal Play
2022
17”x17”x14”

Patriarchal play
Power and control rules
Youth and beauty the prize
Preying on insecurities
Of men and women both
There are no winners.

WOMEN BEFORE PROFIT

Women Before Profit
2023
13.25” x 10.25”

NO HAVEN FROM RACISM

No Haven From Racism
In Remembrance of Breonna Taylor
2023
65” x 65”

In Sylvia’s social commentary artwork, she uses art as a vehicle to express her understanding of the societal and institutional structures in our society, to question the inequality caused by the cultural conditioning those structures promote, and to encourage conversation about the pervasive patriarchal perspective and its impact.

This artwork calls attention to our inhumanity to others by offering a perspective of the consequences of the patriarchal system in which we live. Patriarchy is a socially constructed system where males have primary power. It is an invisible, structural force that informs our beliefs and thoughts, therefore our decisions and actions. All of us, men and women alike, participate in this system, usually unaware of the extent to which this unconscious programing has on us. 

The overarching patriarchal system goes beyond just devaluing women. It also devalues others who are outside the group that holds power. This system harms men, too, by disconnecting them from their emotions and prescribing a narrowly defined role: to be strong, competitive, prove their manhood, and ultimately deny their humanity. Patriarchy informs every social system in our society, including nuclear family units, communities, cities, schools, industries, corporations, and more. It is, at its core, an unhealthy, even traumatizing, system. 

Sylvia’s work calls upon us to look beneath the surface, to examine this invisible force that affects us so significantly. We would all benefit from engaging in a respectful, blame-free conversation about this dehumanizing social system.