Capturing embarrassment in everyday life, the paintings explore a diaristic narrative of awkward encounters. The work is grounded in reality, retelling specific events and painted from memory. They deliberately make a spectacle of discomfort and expose the shame that was endured. In each scene, the viewer becomes an onlooker, watching as I attempt to maintain composure while navigating odd and absurd interactions. The paintings linger in the quiet panic and internal scrambling that accompany even the smallest social missteps.

Showcasing the awkwardness of uncomfortable situations and behavioural tensions, the work draws connections between these moments and cringe comedy. I play on social discomfort to mirror the guilty pleasure found in watching such encounters unfold. The relationship between cringe and humour is conflicting; the situations that make us want to disappear are often the ones that bring the most laughter. Revealing a collective fascination with discomfort and vulnerability.

I am particularly interested in exposure: an encounter goes awry and I, as the protagonist, find myself in the dreaded spotlight. These unpolished moments drive my practice. When the atmosphere is tense and interactions are flawed, they become purposeful. I explore the shared awkwardness of being placed under scrutiny, reflecting a broader sensitivity to how we are perceived and judged in everyday life.

The paintings are unplanned. I work with only a snapshot of the scene in mind, allowing the composition to emerge as I progress through the painting. This unpredictability mimics the nature of the moments I depict. Relying on intuition to paint the remembered scene, my cartoonish language and playful/deadpan expressions results in paintings that feel both exaggerated and truthful, capturing the absurdity of a situation while remaining rooted in lived experience.

Embarrassment is something we often want to escape quickly; my work pins it down. By documenting it, it becomes inescapable, transforming private discomfort into something shared, where humour emerges through self-deprecation and recognition of how easily ordinary situations can spiral into tragedy.