The source image depicts a willowy, contrapposto silhouette of Joan in her Los Angeles
home. Similar to Michelle Phillips, Joan Didion seems to be at the junction of the key figures of
her time, becoming a literary and style icon over generations. Reading Didion’s essays I
appreciate her ability to describe the self-conceptions of Americans and to imagine the stories
that connect them to one another as meaningful. Within the painting I wanted to create a
figure as a part of the space. The feeling of the surrounding space became as interesting as the
central figure.