About toccopolasam
Artist Statement:
I'm an outsider artist of women's traditional arts. I've been categorized both as a folk artist and south Gothic artist. I'm not sure either category fits me, but I know my art is informed by a feminine gaze. I distrust labels of this kind. Like my grandmother sewing, I do this because I consider it beautiful.
I believe in making art that has a narrative, one that creates an ambiance contributing to the visual effect of the work. Like all Southerners raised in the specter of Lost Cause discourse, memories haunt me and my work as an artist.
Although southern Gothic is generally rendered in ockers and gray because of multiple layers of decay on the genre, I use garish, Madi Gras colors in defiance of the myth that Scarlett O Hara is alive and well and living in Toccopola. My art searches the landscape for signs of the new south, I'm trying to scrape off the Mary Kay and show the real face however pock-marked of lady antebellum.
This has to be the hardest painting I have ever done. I was driving to work yesterday morning when this image popped in my head. It came at me by surprise and I was consumed with the idea all day and night. I am Pro Life and a Christian, my views on the matter are clearly stated in this piece and it moves me to tears every time I look at it. I used acrylic paint, saliva, and tears on a flat canvas. 
toccopolasam 
Hi dear friend! Here in Brazil there is a very current debate on legal abortion, this painting reflected both in their community and in my country … I waited a little while to comment because I did not have sufficient knowledge of English to express exactly what I think of this painting … I can say that there is great power in the concept and a deeper meaning. I think a painting is more political and not personal. My perception is influenced by current issues in my society.
Art I love is art that makes you think. I’m having more support from Pro Choice liberals than I am my own conservative folk, that surprised me. I imagined all my religious friends to embrace it but they are not getting the message I intended and discard it because it makes there heart hurt to look at it. That saddens me. It’s hard to speak deeply and ponder life sometimes when those around you don’t want to take the time to think with you. I still stand for what I stand for but the company I keep is changing to keep up with my thirst for enlightenment. In the South it’s Religion, guns, family, and conservative beliefs. I share Religion and I’m definitely a family oriented person but the ease to write someone off so quickly for a lifestyle quirk is something I cannot do. So, an outcast I am. They don’t dislike me outright in my circle of Conservatives but I know I make them uneasy with my odd behavior and love of the arts. It’s funny I just read a letter from our church with the new wedding policy’s and dancing is NOT PROHIBITED in any sense, yet we encourage our congregation to dance and be undignified for the Lord (while no one has yet to get up and dance during Sunday service). Things like that perplex me, oxymoron’s and unspoken taboo’s of the south is what I want to touch in my art and make fun of. To me it’s ridiculous, I catch myself rolling my eyes at them. Really, your going to tell me Jesus would be appalled that at your wedding you and your husband danced to At Last by Etta James? or Play that Funky Music White Boy? I would hope my Lord and savior has better things to be concerned with than me dancing at a wedding. Sorry for my rant but I’m getting tired of the blank stares when I make a joke or tell a story. My conservatives are not all like that but the majority around me are.