My paintings play with gender stereotypes; I playfully break socially constructed boundaries by creating gender fluid imagery. I paint baseball portraits to break apart this male dominant sport. Baseball is a very popular American pastime, and I was not exposed to it until I moved to the United States. It was how I formed my identity, helping me feel like I belong in this country and am no longer the Brazilian girl who wishes to be an American. That is also how breaking the barrier of gender constructs looks to me. A way for people to find themselves and just be who they want to be, not what society wants them to be.

However, I feel frustration when it comes to the game itself: no one looks like me. The lack of women in baseball is obvious and not much is being done about it. When women were allowed to play in the 1940s, it was because the men wanted a show of legs and beauty. Times have changed, but where are the women in this sport now? Why is there not a women’s league affiliated with MLB? 

My baseball portraits explore gender fluidity by adding stereotypical femininity to these very masculine baseball icons. Through a mix of graphic, feminine/flamboyant color palette and 3D objects, acrylics, and oil, I break the gender categories. I do not want my work to be a 100% serious comment on gender and masculinity, but rather the good side of breaking barriers, accepting change, and forgetting categories. These paintings are not just for baseball fans, I want to find out what the image makes anyone, and everyone feel. Uneasy? Confused? Happy? Goofy? How does breaking the barrier of a social construct make you feel?