was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1982. She received a BFA degree in studio art from Missouri State University, and an MA and MFA in painting from the University of Iowa. Working primarily in gouache and oil, Hawk paints images of girls in uniform at a doll-like scale, addressing gender and social dynamics within an institutional context. Her work has recently been published in New American Paintings and The Oxford American literary magazine. She currently lives and works in Doha, Qatar.
“This work reflects my interest in the relationship between feminine identity, social interactions, and institutions. The girls in my paintings are being trained to become ladies, as signified by their identically feminine garments. But within this attempt at assimilation, an intricate play of yearning, mischief, communion, and rebellion develops. These characters inhabit their own little worlds within the boundaries of their respective institutions, acting out social and internal dramas that both reinforce and resist the homogenizing effect of their coded clothing: they flock and flee, exclude and embrace, quarrel and ally. Here the need to become integrated into a group conflicts with a want of individuality, accompanied by simultaneous longing and resistance towards femininity. Under the watchful eye of institutional power, the spirit of these girls endures as they reveal the beautiful complexities of their character.”—Zoe Hawk
More about Zoe Hawk and her illustrations here.
