Betz’s Prodigal Daughter

This painting depicts a snapshot of my good friend CJ at her parent’s mini farm in Kansas City Missouri. CJ is trans and her parents are full Trump supporters and they have a great time together, as I witnessed when I accompanied her on a trip home. As I come from redneck roots myself, I was quite comfortable in this setting. She has not been without struggle and while she was playing around by sticking her head through the “stocks” (a chainsaw carved wood sign that reads Betz’s Corner), she read into this painting her own feelings of being trapped in her family. But there is still much love and camaraderie and humor in this family. She even convinced her dad to switch his confederate flag for a betsy ross flag and then I added the rainbow flag in the painting. This family, and the image I constructed, is an example of how political ideologies don’t need to interfere with a good time. And in fact, if people had more opportunities to party together, a lot of political division would fall by the wayside. And it was fun to see her mom's shocked expression when she walked into the gallery in San Francisco on a visit to CJ and saw this painting hanging on the wall.