There is a certain kind of silence that happens when the air between two people thickens with intent. It isn’t heavy, exactly, but it has a pull—a magnetic weight that dictates how a shoulder drops or how a hip tilts. When I sat down to begin this piece, I was thinking about that specific itch of mischief, the way we sometimes invite a bit of friction just to see how it feels against our skin. It is about the thrill of the tease and the honesty of a body that knows exactly what it wants.
My process always begins with the line. I find that a pencil is the most honest tool I own; it doesn't allow for secrets. Every stroke is a record of my own pulse, a physical manifestation of the energy I’m trying to pin to the paper. For this work, I wanted the black to be deep and unapologetic, contrasting against the starkness of the page to mimic the clarity of a sudden realization. I spent a long time on the tension of the form, making sure the anatomy felt lived-in and reactive.
The title is a bit of a wink, a subversion of the idea of being controlled. In my work, the women are never truly passive. Even when the subject is playing with the idea of submission, there is a fierce agency in their posture. I wanted to explore how it feels to give someone power over you, not because you have to, but because the dynamic itself is a form of expression. It is a choice made in the dark, a lean into the unknown.
“I wanted to draw the specific, sharp tension of a body inviting a little bit of trouble.”— Kaethe Butcher, Studio Notes,
Looking back at these marks, I see the vulnerability I was trying to capture. It’s not just about the eroticism of the moment, though that is the skin it wears. It is about the trust required to be truly playful. To be 'under a thumb' can be a position of immense strength if you are the one who chose to be there. It’s a celebration of the body as a site of both deep feeling and lighthearted rebellion.
