Harris’s body in her self-portraits, signals what might be understood as the beginning of the process of a woman’s physical demise, starting with the loss of her ability to create new life. Harris’s paintings, however, are not about lamenting these losses. In fact, as is emphasized by the title and content of two other self-portraits tentatively titled Pale Angel and Angel, she seems quite ready to accept the fact that her body, having performed its earthly purpose of conveying life is transforming, readying itself for a new phase. Harris’s paintings, however, do not dwell on the fact of death but rather find in it a release, a semblance of freedom, perhaps even a different kind of birth. This can be seen in the fact that, while physically grounded in their body’s solidity, the heads and elongated necks of these figures—slightly smaller in proportion to the bodies—appear to hover above their bodies, contributing to a spectral quality in these works. Her expressions in these works register confidence, resolve, and poise, and in Invisible resized, we glimpse a slight smile. These figures seem to possess knowledge or a state of consciousness that exists beyond the realm of the ordinary. Her figures appear to emerge from thin air and, despite their physicality, exist in a state and space of suspension.

Harris was born in 1963 and received an M.F.A. in from Yale in 1988 during a moment of renewed interest in figurative work (John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage, both Yale MFA, 1986). She has exhibited her work in Chicago, New England and New York. In 2003 her work was the subject of a mid-career survey at Bowdoin College Museum of Art curated by Alison Ferris. She currently teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.