The only thing people ever talk about when they talk about artists and money is about how they don’t have any. My work challenges this narrative by bringing art and finance into a shared dialogue, showing that creativity and financial literacy can coexist in powerful ways.

For my senior thesis, I provided 20 free financial coaching sessions to artists, tailoring guidance to their financial goals. In exchange, each participant contributed a self-taken image of food. I incorporated these into a large-scale still life painting, evoking abundance. Symbols of hope and prosperity reinforce a wish for financial success. Upon its sale, I will share half of my portion of the proceeds with the participants, reinforcing shared financial empowerment.

Food symbolizes abundance and security, qualities I want to associate with the artist’s life. By reinterpreting Dutch Still Life traditions and using finance as a framework, my work fosters both critical discourse and tangible action to challenge the starving artist narrative.

Ultimately, by using finance as the framework for my paintings, I hope to spark curiosity and encourage a deeper understanding of how these systems can intersect, offering a more hopeful and expansive perspective on money in creative fields.