In this self-portrait, part of the series The Girlfriend Experience, I explore the violent intersection between intimacy and power. I portray myself naked, marked by sadness—visualized through blue eyelids—and the physical traces of a sexual encounter. The work functions as a visceral denunciation of how consensual spaces can abruptly transform into scenes of male control and abuse.

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The presence of embroidery in this piece is a deliberate subversive act. By integrating a screaming mouth rendered in thread, I invoke what Rozsika Parker identifies as the power of the needle to transition from a tool of domestic docility to one of radical resistance. Historically, embroidery was a silent, "private" labor used to domesticate the female body. By bringing this technique into a large-scale painting of sexual violence, I am forcing the private trauma into the public sphere.

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This shift aligns with Griselda Pollock’s theories on the "spaces of femininity," where the domestic realm is challenged as a site of confinement. The depiction of myself in socks but without shoes symbolizes this restricted mobility—a body that is present but lacks the power to flee. Through this visual explosiveness, I attempt to dismantle the structures that infantilize and commodify the female figure, questioning whether true sexual emancipation is possible while the "consuming gaze" still dictates the boundaries of our most intimate experiences.