Urshula Dunn is a 25 year old, self-taught artist currently based in Washington DC, but originally from the Pacific Northwest.

Taking inspiration from everything ranging from the impressionist and fauvist movements, philosophical theories that attempt to explain existence, music that makes you feel like you’re melting into the earth, and movies that leave you feeling full or empty without really knowing why, she combines bold brushstrokes, shapes, and colors with classical oil painting techniques and realism. While it may not always be at the forefront of her work, every piece is informed by her personal experience and identity as a queer, biracial black woman, and the child of an immigrant.

As a completely self-taught artist, she’s found portraiture and the human form to be some of the greatest storytellers in art. While the specific subjects of her work can vary widely, ranging from headless or hollow forms and colorful skeletons to zoomed in details of hands or a face, there is always a connecting theme of a feeling personified into a body. What does loneliness look like when it’s as overwhelming as rage? What part of the body does the feeling of calm live in versus the feeling of melancholy? She creates these images to process these emotions for herself and to hopefully provide a vessel for others to work through their shared experience of that feeling. Even with the augmented nature of her paintings, her goal is for viewers to still find a sense of familiarity and connection with the images and ultimately find meaning in each piece for themselves as she does.