“Women of the CTA” is an ongoing body of paintings that center on the subject of women navigating Chicago on the city’s trains and busses. References come directly from phone images I have snapped on my own commute of women going about their day. I hope to tell a story of what it means to be a modern woman in Chicago and the way we take up space in public settings.

I began taking the El in Chicago when I was 17 years old in 2000 while doing a residency at SAIC. I’ve now called Chicago my home for over a decade. The CTA is what connects the city. I am intrigued by how different people use public transportation to navigate getting to their jobs, running errands, staying warm, getting to the airport, meeting up with friends or just going home after a long day.

The CTA confines so many individual stories happening at one time, and overlaps them as we share a ride through the City we call home. It’s where you can come up close to the fashion and culture of the city. The connectedness we experience when we share a ride together is something that can only exist in those spaces.