Who Told You To Be Small
30 × 40 Canvas Original
Mixed media- acrylic on canvas with glitter
2025
They told you in whispers,
in the tight grip of too, small jeans,
in calorie counts scribbled among the margins of your brain.
They told you in a mothers’ sigh,
in magazines screaming less is more,
in friends pinching their own softness,
saying, “I was so bad today.”
They told you in dinner plates half full,
in hunger framed as virtue,
in the way they praised the vanishing,
as if joy was measured in collarbones,
as if love lived only in spaces unfilled.
They shaped you like a question mark,
a shrinking thing,
a whisper where a roar should be.
But you,
you are not small.
You are oceanic, vast, untamed, deep
You take up space in bold strokes of blue,
thighs thick as rolling tides.
Your body, wrapped in purple, it’s bold.
A suit that does not shrink, does not hide,
but carves canyons in the deep,
sharp and unyielding.
There a challenge
“Who told you to be small?”
Who dared to press their hands against your waves,
to tell you to be quiet, to pull back,
to make yourself digestible?
The ocean has never been happy being told how to be.
She does not ask permission to rise.
She does not apologize for swallowing the shore whole.
She does not fear the depth of herself.
Neither, my dear, should you.
Arriving ready for display, varnished, stamped, signed, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
10% of every $1,000 sold is donated to a nonprofit that helps women reclaim their autonomy.
All prices include shipping to US addresses, if you are outside of the United States please reach out to the artist for a custom shipping quote.
30 × 40 Canvas Original
Mixed media- acrylic on canvas with glitter
2025
They told you in whispers,
in the tight grip of too, small jeans,
in calorie counts scribbled among the margins of your brain.
They told you in a mothers’ sigh,
in magazines screaming less is more,
in friends pinching their own softness,
saying, “I was so bad today.”
They told you in dinner plates half full,
in hunger framed as virtue,
in the way they praised the vanishing,
as if joy was measured in collarbones,
as if love lived only in spaces unfilled.
They shaped you like a question mark,
a shrinking thing,
a whisper where a roar should be.
But you,
you are not small.
You are oceanic, vast, untamed, deep
You take up space in bold strokes of blue,
thighs thick as rolling tides.
Your body, wrapped in purple, it’s bold.
A suit that does not shrink, does not hide,
but carves canyons in the deep,
sharp and unyielding.
There a challenge
“Who told you to be small?”
Who dared to press their hands against your waves,
to tell you to be quiet, to pull back,
to make yourself digestible?
The ocean has never been happy being told how to be.
She does not ask permission to rise.
She does not apologize for swallowing the shore whole.
She does not fear the depth of herself.
Neither, my dear, should you.
Arriving ready for display, varnished, stamped, signed, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
10% of every $1,000 sold is donated to a nonprofit that helps women reclaim their autonomy.
All prices include shipping to US addresses, if you are outside of the United States please reach out to the artist for a custom shipping quote.
30 × 40 Canvas Original
Mixed media- acrylic on canvas with glitter
2025
They told you in whispers,
in the tight grip of too, small jeans,
in calorie counts scribbled among the margins of your brain.
They told you in a mothers’ sigh,
in magazines screaming less is more,
in friends pinching their own softness,
saying, “I was so bad today.”
They told you in dinner plates half full,
in hunger framed as virtue,
in the way they praised the vanishing,
as if joy was measured in collarbones,
as if love lived only in spaces unfilled.
They shaped you like a question mark,
a shrinking thing,
a whisper where a roar should be.
But you,
you are not small.
You are oceanic, vast, untamed, deep
You take up space in bold strokes of blue,
thighs thick as rolling tides.
Your body, wrapped in purple, it’s bold.
A suit that does not shrink, does not hide,
but carves canyons in the deep,
sharp and unyielding.
There a challenge
“Who told you to be small?”
Who dared to press their hands against your waves,
to tell you to be quiet, to pull back,
to make yourself digestible?
The ocean has never been happy being told how to be.
She does not ask permission to rise.
She does not apologize for swallowing the shore whole.
She does not fear the depth of herself.
Neither, my dear, should you.
Arriving ready for display, varnished, stamped, signed, and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.
10% of every $1,000 sold is donated to a nonprofit that helps women reclaim their autonomy.
All prices include shipping to US addresses, if you are outside of the United States please reach out to the artist for a custom shipping quote.
