Kristin Beck: A Journey from War to Peace

January 31 - March 30, 2014

Gallery Hours

Monday-Thursday, 10 am - 4 pm
or contact Jayms Battaglia (617-876-3256 x201) for an appointment

Reception

Sunday, March 30, 2014, 5-7 pm

Artist’s Statement

“I am not a man, I am not a woman. I see through eyes and have feelings that are difficult to put on paper…. I am trying.

“I was a US Navy SEAL for 20 years;
I fought in three wars.
I have seen death up close and personal.
The beauty of the hindu kush while it was aflame.
Children playing in the street that a few days earlier a graveyard.
My dreams were trashed by memories that were built on the jagged rocks of battle.

“I am still working through my SEAL life on canvas, painting things SEAL-like.
I have to do this; I have to document the armor that was protecting me from feelings and vulnerability.
Shed the heavy protection that kept me safe, shed the walls and covers to show a light.
This was my journey for half of my life;
you see pieces in acrylic on canvas;
see it as a poem with ink on paper;
see it late at night when I am sitting in front of the camp fire with a tear in my eye.
see it rise behind my eyes in anguish against ghosts as it comes out as anger or isolation.

“What you see on canvas in my art is the vestiges of my shell that I am dismantling toward a peace of my own.
I was a man and now I am living a new life as a woman.
who knows what gender a soul is… I am grasping at the next level to be one with a soul.
Is that even possible?
Will I ever find some peace…

“What will be left after the armor is taken off…
After I get this out of my system I may start painting some flowers or something…”

—Kristin Beck
Lady Valor Facebook page

More about Kristin

Kristin Beck, formerly Christopher Beck, served for 20 years as a US Navy SEAL. She is known as a ‘Warrior Princess’ and a transgender leader. After retirement she started living her own life of freedom and peace, devoting most of her time to Civil Rights Activism on Capitol Hill or around the country. She graduated Alfred University, the world-renowned art school in western New York, where she began her life of art and introspection. Glimpses of a SEAL at war in Iraq and Afghanistan with the peace of a koi pond and salvation are entertained into the fabric of every peace she does. The 20 year hiatus from painting and pottery has ended with these very few pieces that are starting out her new journey as a ‘Warrior of Peace.’

Kristin is the subject of the documentary Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story, which premiered at the SXSW Festival in March 2014.