"Cornflower"

By Helene Woods

D. Helene Woods (she/her) is a Jewish queer artist living and working on occupied Očeti Šakówin and Wahpekute land now known as the rural community of Monticello, MN. Woods is interested in the concept of wellness, and how generational, cultural, and immediate experiences impact health and well-being. Woods uses symbolic elements and an imagined anatomy to represent how the body physically feels. She includes environments and objects alluding to gender, class and personal histories that reflect the impacts they have on our lives and bodies. Woods explores how wellness is woven into all aspects of human activity, from the very public to the most private. The paintings express a thoughtfulness to how our sense of well-being interacts with our memories, thoughts of the future, and the very immediate present. Woods’ varied painting techniques emphasize the materiality of the paint as a mirror to the physicality of the human form. Employing spray paint, acrylic ink, impasto and washes, Woods’ work references the many textures and patinas of physical biology. At the same time, color and line are used to underscore the connections between the human form’s inner workings and the world in which it resides. The spheres sometimes seep into each other, and sometimes the boundary is concrete and clear. Woods state’s her work also shows a Jewish view of the world and well-being that is different from traditional Christianity. “Jews believe good and evil are both created by God, and so… a part of who each of us is. Both exist within us and the world around us at the same time. So often my compositions are showing rather dark events or conditions occurring in bright engaging colors, or vice versa. I want you to not be sure if this is good or bad, because it is always both.”