Growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, American artist Zoe Hawk’s paintings investigate the challenging transitional phase of girlhood, being an adolescent and feminine identity. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Missouri State University. The works of the artist, whose works have been published in many publications such as LA Times, Juxtapoz, Booooooom, ArtMaze Mag, JOIA Magazine, Plastik Magazine, have been exhibited both nationally and internationally.

The artist’s works are dominated by themes such as coming of age, gendered socialization, social conformity, individual identity, anxiety. It’s an interesting contrast that Zoe Hawk’s paintings have a sweet and familiar side but also an uncanny and odd feel.

Zoe Hawk explains the relationship between herself and her paintings as follows in comomag: “The anxiety that I felt with that transition permeates all the paintings,” says Zoe. “When I was a little girl, I thought about what it meant to be a woman. It was exciting and romantic, based on things you would see in cartoons and movies. But at the same time, it was sort of terrifying because it was this obscure, unknown thing, and also inevitable. The inevitability of it was terrifying to me. You can’t stop it.”

You can check Zoe Hawk’s website, and follow her on Instagram.