“Butterflies in their Stomach,” oil.

I am very much a feminist, and when I made this piece, it was part of a three-part series that was a tribute to the Mirabal Sisters. Not only are they my family, but they were political activists martyred for human rights.

Their story goes that in the Dominican Republic during the 1950s, there was a cruel dictator named Rafael Trujillo. He used his secret police and extensive spy network to control the nation. If there was any form of dissent, no matter how small, those people often died in brutal and unexplained circumstances. Full of power and lust, Trujillo often enjoyed kidnapping and raping young girls. And when Minerva Mirabal, my grandmother’s cousin, found herself as his next target, she literally slapped him in the face and escaped. After that, Trujillo made it his mission to ruin her and my family’s life. He denied Minerva her license to practice law, imprisoned and tortured her parents and financially ruined them. This turned Minerva and her sisters into political activists, where they distributed pamphlets, gathered weapons and made makeshift firecracker bombs. Collectively, the three activist sisters became known by the codename “Las Mariposas” (“The Butterflies”). The sisters were thrown in jail after a failed attempt to assassinate Trujillo. Inside, they were beaten and cruelly treated until international pressure made Trujillo release them. However, after their release, Trujillo ordered for the sisters to be killed. The secret police ambushed the sisters’ Jeep, strangled and beat them to death with baseball bats and then tried to stage their death as a car crash. The Mirabals’ deaths served as a catalyst for overthrowing Trujillo, who was quickly killed soon after.

In the years following, the Mirabal sisters have become hallowed icons for the Dominican Republic. Virtually all Dominican towns today bear some commemorative marker, school or street with the names of the Mirabal sisters.

Gradually, their fame spread internationally. In 1994, novelist Julia Alvarez commemorated their story with her historical fiction novel “In the Time of the Butterflies,” which imagined much of the smaller details of their story that were lost to time. In 2001, the book was adapted into a movie of the same name, starring Salma Hayek. And each November 25, the date of their assassination, the world celebrates the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in their honor.

So the Mirabal Sisters to me — and to the world — are a symbol of feminist resistance I had to capture in a painting. This piece depicts the violence done to Minerva at the bottom of the painting being channeled into the everlasting impact the sisters made on the nation of the Dominican Republic and, ultimately, the world. When I paint, I use highly-saturated colors because colors to me are highly attractive, and so it makes this dark subject more approachable.

I love painting because it’s a patient craft that forces me to take time and appreciate what I am making. Painting is a great way to carry on the traditions of the past while still making it my own. I have two sides of inspiration I tap into: pop culture and my political and feminist beliefs.