This exhibit is the culmination of Lauren Nicole's tenure as the 2024 Muck Artist in Residence. Lauren Nicole (LN) is a neurodivergent, Indigenous, Southern California-based artist, focusing on painting and beadwork. Her expressively vibrant and exaggerated portrait style, with its play on perspective, immerses viewers into the sensations of having sensory-processing differences. Drawing strength from her neurodiverse traits, like synesthesia, Lauren’s palette contains a hidden language of traits behind each work. Her work is also a commentary on the silencing of emotions, what is considered appropriate, and the onslaught of infantilization and predatory sexualization when one is perceived as weak or having less inherent value by societal standards.
