Artist Statement

Durden’s work revolves around their lived experience, one that is shaped by race, gender, mental and physical health. As a painter, muralist, illustrator and photographer, they express complex emotions and elements of their identity that escape definition by any other means. Thematically, their works often examine the cyclical nature of depression and recovery, our propensity to forget and relive the depths of that cycle, and the futility of attempts to rationally dissect them. Their hyper-realistic compositions often feature figures whose gender is intentionally complicated or obscured to reflect their own reality as a trans artist and to challenge the social oppressions perpetuated by the gender binary.