Margaret Bowland’s (b. 1953, Burlington, NC) spellbinding and psychologically charged paintings bring viewers face to face with contentious culture while affirming the resilience and triumph of the human spirit. A masterful observer of life’s unpredictable nature, her work conveys universal themes through unusually specific insights. Bowland’s paintings explore the subtle and nuanced edges between strength and vulnerability, certainty and doubt, faith and disbelief. Her probing and deeply personal images call into question our societal expectations of gender, race, and beauty.