Artist captures universal experience in body paintings

Yet, unlike traditional portraitists who treat the human body in a realistic and anatomical manner, Quarles fragments them or twists them into humanly impossible postures trough digital sketching without assigning them with specific genders or identities.

Born to a black father and a white mother, the 36-year-old artist identifies herself as a queer cis female, attributing her identity and personal experiences as her major source of inspiration.

Despite so, Quarles is often misidentified as white because of her lighter skin.

Thus, Quarles regards painting as an interesting and conceptual medium to explore living within a body grappling with the excess of identities, the artist revealed in a 2019 interview.