“Model: Ma.1Donna” explores control, labor, and autonomy through the reimagining of the Madonna and Child. Religious iconography has long dictated the roles of women as self-sacrificing caretakers, their labor expected and unpaid. My own upbringing reinforced this, tying my worth to marriage and motherhood. Later, I studied feminist theory and encountered Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, which reframed my thinking— not just about women’s labor, but about the potential exploitation of AI as the next iteration of unpaid servitude.

From enslaved Black women forced into caretaking roles to the looming possibility of sentient artificial labor, this work asks: Who do we build to serve, and why? Inspired by Isaac Asimov’s robot ethics and transhumanist philosophy, I depict the Madonna as a machine— designed, owned, and expected to nurture. A paradox: human, but not; divine, but disposable.

Art, for me, is not just an object— it’s a dialogue. A transaction is never just a purchase; it’s an alignment of values, a shared language of meaning. If this work speaks to you, it’s because you too are questioning, resisting, and reclaiming.

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Description: A sentient AI robotics model holding a human toddler suggests the darker side of humans’ use of their technology. Set in the background is a colony on Mars with a nascent atmosphere and inflatable habitat pods with geodesic construction. In a situation where human labor might be stretched thinly, would Robots become the new slave class? Seems that humans are always looking to subjugate other beings as a means for production. 28” x 36”. Completed in 2013.

Oil on canvas is framed in a metal frame in the color of “German silver”. Local pickup or delivery is preferred. Shipping (if not local pickup) is included in the price of the work in the contiguous US states. Alaska, Hawaii, and international shipping will be an added amount after I receive a shipping address.

This painting will be protected in layers of archival paper, rigid foam and a heavy shipping carton.