The Lavender Ovum 

Troy Brooks created "The Lavender Ovum" in 2023, a painting that invites us into a surreal world of gender and identity. Brooks’s portraits often feature women with exaggerated, almost alien features, challenging conventional beauty standards and societal expectations of femininity. In this artwork, two figures stand against a cityscape bathed in a lavender hue. A woman with platinum blonde hair holds a small, ornate object near her lips, while a figure in a pink military-style uniform stands beside her. The uniform disrupts traditional associations of masculinity and power. Brooks blurs the lines between genders. The dreamlike atmosphere is enhanced by the presence of a bird perched atop a dark, claw-like hand, adding an element of fantasy. Brooks doesn’t shy away from exploring the darker sides of beauty. He said that “the women in my paintings are meant to be survivors.” "The Lavender Ovum" invites us to question how identity is performed, and how gender and beauty are constructed.