'I Want This World' Original Artwork

My goal in this piece was to paint desire for us, longing between women, and sexuality that isn't performing, isn't asking permission, and isn't made for anyone's consumption but our own. I wanted the painting to feel sexy, while overwhelmingly safe.

Earthly greens wrap around the body and warmth emits from sunlight and skin – reminders that female desire and queerness are natural, and that we deserve refuge. We deserve to exist in our sexuality without shame.

Like many of us, I want a world in which women and queer people can exist and express ourselves freely – where our bodies aren't objects to be consumed, but subjects of our own stories. Where desire between women is celebrated, not erased. Where safety and sensuality coexist.

This is the world I painted here. I invite you to see yourself in it, to imagine your future within it and to believe, even for a moment, that this world is possible.

Sabine Strauch, 2026, Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches.