I referenced photos taken during one of my “self-performances” (private performances for my camera, which often instigate new paintings) of myself while pregnant. I painted this in the postpartum period while at an artist residency in Finland, where sweaty sauna culture had me reflecting on images of heat, of release and catharsis, in parallel to the transformations my body had just been through (fertility treatment, pregnancy, birth and its aftermath). I chose the title “The Ripening” to continue a dialogue around the use of terminology pertaining to both agriculture and the female body (in homage to my cranberry farming upbringing).