Kerry
Participatory Portrait
She was
too much
Kerry was called “too much.” This portrait is about the attempt to make her less.
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Kerry spent much of her life being told she was loud, opinionated and too much — words that made her question how much space she was allowed to occupy.
Diagnosed autistic and ADHD in her early thirties, she is a chronically ill mother of two and stepmother of three, raising five neurodivergent children while earning two degrees and a master’s.
The things that have been used to make Kerry feel like she should make herself smaller are also part of what makes her who she is. She is loud. She has opinions. She takes up space.
And she no longer believes those are things she needs to apologise for.
THE DESTRUCTION
Made Smaller
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About the Work
2026
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
I began painting Kerry in vivid colour, filling the canvas with her face — bright, sunny and bold, much like Kerry herself. Then I made her smaller.
I physically reduced her portrait within a larger canvas, surrounding her with words that have been used against her: too loud, opinionated, too much. The scale is intentional. The words become enormous while Kerry is pushed into a fraction of the space she originally occupied.
It is a literal representation of what labels attempt to do: make women smaller. But despite covering almost the entire portrait in black, the colour and light underneath still shine through.
Her story also feels painfully relatable. You don't have to be particularly controversial to become too much. Sometimes being a woman who speaks a little too loudly, has an opinion, or refuses to make herself smaller is enough.