Monique Holiday

MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE:
Since I was a child, painting has given me a life purpose. At every opportunity, I work in acrylic and oil on canvas. Also, I paint digitally such as Adobe Photoshop. I rebel against Euro-centric reality by revealing my brushstrokes in a Post-Impressionist manner. Combining both underpainting and texture, I strive for delicate boldness. When I apply bold colors directly from the tube, I project intense emotions onto the canvas. These emotions shift between negative and positive, which helps us feel alive. By blending some colors, my canvas reveals a mixture of the cosmos and spiritual auras that surrounds each subject. Through painting portraits of my tribe and animals, my work reflects a Diné principle called Hózhó. Hózhó is a Navajo word that interconnects happiness, beauty, harmony, and goodness. Hózhóogo naasháa doo is a Navajo sentence, translating as “I walk in beauty.” Beauty comes from ourselves, the land, our people, and living organisms, which is why I paint.