I was born and raised in Chicago, a city renowned for its vibrant art scene, which spawned movements like the 'Hairy Who.' Judy Chicago's adoption of her city's name signifies the profound influence of Chicago's artistic heritage. 

Art, in my family, was not a thing with which to decorate the walls or complement the furniture; it was to provoke deeper thoughts about life and the soul’s journey. I grew up surrounded by the haunting 'Heads' of Leon Golub, the ominous ghouls jumping out of graves of Irving Petlin, and the surreal imagery of Seymour Resofsky's 'Chinning Man,' along with the harrowing works of 'Maryan' (Pinchas Burstein), a Holocaust survivor. This was the art with which I was familiar. 

While studying art at Sarah Lawrence College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design, I faced a significant turning point following the death of my father in 1986. Representations of death, which had once adorned our walls as artistic expressions, now took on a deeply personal resonance for me at the tender age of 20. It was a pivotal moment that led me, at 25, to relinquish painting and pursue graduate studies in psychology, with a particular focus on Carl Jung's theories of archetypes and the collective unconscious. 

In 2016, two decades after I had abandoned my artistic pursuits, the tragic suicide of my second spouse unleashed a flood of creativity within me. Painting emerged as a sanctuary in a world fraught with incomprehensibility. Beginning with a single small piece, I found myself unable to halt the flow of expression that surged forth. 

I became obsessed with the madness of the world. The continued pain of the world inspired me to continue my work. I directed my focus towards addressing large-scale issues such as the global pandemic, Putin's aggression in Ukraine, the looming threat of climate change, and the alarming reversal of Roe vs. Wade, among numerous other concerns. The sense of coherence that once characterized America and the global landscape now seemed shattered, leaving me to confront a bewildering reality devoid of rationality.