My emerging practice explores notions of orientation, personal narrative and opacity through the subjective lens of my queer identity. In a series of oil paintings, my work attempts to speak for some of the experiences I have had as a queer person, living and working in Australian heteronormative culture. The way in which I subvert and interact with my subject matter is to interrupt it - through the use of a green and white striped motif, that acts as a kind of non-human alter ego. I depict garments, foreign urban environments, and personal iconography in my paintings using a variety of painting methods and transparencies. My subject matter is influenced by my past careers in the fashion industry as a designer and in aviation, as a flight attendant. I’ve attempted to skew and distort my paintings, disrupting their representative authority and willing them into something that best speaks to my personal narrative. The ever present green and white striped motif evokes my internal tussle between masculinity and femininity. To me it speaks of the order and disorder of being queer. Stripes have a complexity in that they disguise and attract attention, simultaneously. They are neither natural nor neutral. Stripes can be transparent, but they can also provide much needed opacity. My striped motif represents the common uncomfortable experience I often face in heteronormative situations, and my conflicted attempts to blend in and be present, all at once. By advancing, distracting and weaving in and out of my compositions, my striped motif behaves in an almost audacious, sassy manner - which evoke characteristics that don’t come naturally to me as a person.