"Sapphic Gaze" presents a compelling series of vibrant, life-size portraits that delve into the intimate lives of women-loving women. Drawing from her 23-year relationship and the experiences of lesbian couples in her community, Joan Cox crafts visual narratives that champion intense, celebratory, and nuanced relationships. By reimagining historical art compositions with personal narratives and lush, symbolic imagery, Joan challenges the historical absence of lesbian representation in Western art. Her paintings are a canvas of affirmation, celebrating the dynamic and complex intimacies between women, which have long been overlooked or taboo. Through this exhibition, Joan showcases the beauty and complexity of sapphic love and aims to affirm these relationships, recognizing them for their intrinsic value and significant place in contemporary society.

  • Artist Talk: "Sapphic Gaze" 2024

    Artist Talk at Hillyer Gallery in Washington, DC for solo exhibition: "Sapphic Gaze" 2024

  • Family Totem: Cox, McCall, Asplen, O'Boyle, Funk, Gebbia, Gallagher
    Family Totem: Cox, McCall, Asplen, O'Boyle, Funk, Gebbia, Gallagher

    My most recent life-sized painting brings my own life to the canvas—featuring myself, my wife, and our child posed in the large tree in the center of Sherwood Gardens in Guilford. As you look closely, you will notice hundreds of names painted on the tree branches, becoming the bark of the tree. All of the names are my direct ancestors, going back 1100 years — with 400 years of ancestors right here in Maryland on the Eastern shore.

  • The Floor is Ours
    The Floor is Ours

    The Floor is Ours captures its subjects in a dizzying moment of passion. An interracial lesbian couple is interrupted on a floor that presents the opportunity to show every possible skin color across the wood.

  • Cox_Joan_Love in the Shade.jpg
    Cox_Joan_Love in the Shade.jpg

    Love in the Shade celebrates the intimate connection between two women of color in a lush garden of shade plants.

  • Origin of the Family
    Origin of the Family
    Origin of the Family, oil on canvas, 96" x 54"
  • Cox_GardenofAutumn_final-2MB.jpg
    Cox_GardenofAutumn_final-2MB.jpg
    This magically lyrical painting depicts a lush garden bursting with life — reflecting the new life and fruit that the pregnant figure on the right is bearing. The figure on the left is specifically gender-neutral. While both figures blend into the background, they also merge with one another through the red tomato. This painting layers the narrative and references the garden of Adam and Eve with a slight contemporary twist.
  • "For Us" music, lyrics and dance inspired by "Nighthunger"

    Inspired by the painting “ Night Hunger” by Baltimore artist Joan Cox, the text was crafted by “amateur lesbian poet” Reverend Dr. Caroline Peacock of Atlanta, a fellow member of OurSong. Original music by Richard Clawson and dance and choreography by 17th Street Dance company. Performed by The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center in June 2024 and again at the "Gala Chorus" event in Minneapolis.

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  • Family Totem: Cox, McCall, Asplen, O'Boyle, Funk, Gebbia, Gallagher
  • The Floor is Ours
  • Cox_Joan_Love in the Shade.jpg
  • Origin of the Family
  • Cox_GardenofAutumn_final-2MB.jpg