On Her Own Terms, 2025
Archival Handprint
16 in x 20 in
It’s the last week to see this piece as apart of the
@creativealliancebaltimore group show ‘Untethered Familiars’. Ayana Gordon presents an image from The Shape of Her, a forthcoming series exploring the beauty and challenges of becoming a woman. Rooted in her own relationships and reflections, the series explores sisterhood, friendship as devotion, romantic relationships, motherhood beyond expectation, and the boundless talents women carry; the work honors transition as both tender and charged.
This image marks the final stage of a woman’s unraveling: a moment after the layers have been shed. The figure is adorned with eccentric details that feel unmistakably her —small artifacts of selfhood. In the mirror, she catches her own gaze and pauses, contemplating what remains when performance falls away, and what it means to choose who you are becoming.
