2026 | Collage, Acrylic and Resin on Wood | Original Mixed Media Artwork
You can admire her. You can desire her. But you cannot own her.
In Not Yours to Own, contemporary artist Alissa Van Atta transforms the familiar visual language of commercial barcodes into a monumental declaration of feminine autonomy, challenging the assumption that desire, attachment, or admiration creates a right to possession.
Measuring 40 × 30 inches, this original mixed-media artwork uses dramatic scale and deliberate minimalism to confront the relationship between ownership, identity, and power.
A bold black barcode dominates the left portion of the composition, its mechanical vertical lines accompanied by a sequence of numbers. Against the expansive white background, the understated words Not yours to own deliver a direct and uncompromising response to the commercial imagery.
The contrast is striking.
Barcodes exist to identify merchandise, establish systems of inventory, and facilitate transactions. They transform individual objects into commodities that can be assigned prices, tracked, purchased, and owned.
But what happens when the language of ownership is applied to a woman?
Throughout history, women have been subjected to social and cultural structures that treat their bodies, identities, sexuality, and emotional availability as things over which others may claim authority. These assumptions continue to influence contemporary relationships, where affection can become confused with possession and desire with entitlement.
Not Yours to Own challenges those expectations.
The artwork distinguishes the freedom to form meaningful connections from the expectation of control. A woman's independence does not disappear because she is desired, admired, loved, or partnered. Her identity remains her own.
Through the use of collage, acrylic, and resin on wood, Van Atta combines the graphic clarity of commercial labeling with the physical presence of a substantial original artwork. The resin-finished surface enhances the visual precision of the composition while reinforcing its relationship to polished consumer imagery.
The extensive negative space is equally significant. Rather than filling the composition with decorative imagery, Van Atta allows the relationship between barcode and language to become the subject. The simplicity gives the declaration room to stand on its own, without apology or explanation.
Part of Van Atta's The Price of Her collection, Not Yours to Own examines the ways feminine identity has been shaped by systems of commerce, ownership, social expectation, and assigned value.
While smaller works in the series explore availability, measurement, and valuation, this large-scale painting confronts the fundamental question of possession.
Its message also introduces a deliberate contradiction: the artwork itself is available for purchase, but the human autonomy it represents is not.
The distinction is essential.
An artwork can become someone's property. A human being cannot.
Bold, confrontational, and unapologetically feminist, Not Yours to Own challenges viewers to reconsider the difference between love and control, appreciation and entitlement, and value and possession.
She is not a possession. She never was.
Artist: Alissa Van Atta
Title: Not Yours to Own
Year: 2026
Medium: Collage, Acrylic and Resin on Wood
Dimensions: 40 H × 30 W × 1.5 D inches
Original: One-of-a-kind mixed media artwork
Signed: Yes
Collection: The Price of Her
Price: $3,500
Availability: Available
The title Not Yours to Own expresses the artwork's conceptual message about human autonomy. The physical original is available for purchase.
Original artwork by Alissa Van Atta. Insured shipping can be arranged with protective packaging appropriate for the large resin-finished wood panel.
2026 | Collage, Acrylic and Resin on Wood | Original Mixed Media Artwork
You can admire her. You can desire her. But you cannot own her.
In Not Yours to Own, contemporary artist Alissa Van Atta transforms the familiar visual language of commercial barcodes into a monumental declaration of feminine autonomy, challenging the assumption that desire, attachment, or admiration creates a right to possession.
Measuring 40 × 30 inches, this original mixed-media artwork uses dramatic scale and deliberate minimalism to confront the relationship between ownership, identity, and power.
A bold black barcode dominates the left portion of the composition, its mechanical vertical lines accompanied by a sequence of numbers. Against the expansive white background, the understated words Not yours to own deliver a direct and uncompromising response to the commercial imagery.
The contrast is striking.
Barcodes exist to identify merchandise, establish systems of inventory, and facilitate transactions. They transform individual objects into commodities that can be assigned prices, tracked, purchased, and owned.
But what happens when the language of ownership is applied to a woman?
Throughout history, women have been subjected to social and cultural structures that treat their bodies, identities, sexuality, and emotional availability as things over which others may claim authority. These assumptions continue to influence contemporary relationships, where affection can become confused with possession and desire with entitlement.
Not Yours to Own challenges those expectations.
The artwork distinguishes the freedom to form meaningful connections from the expectation of control. A woman's independence does not disappear because she is desired, admired, loved, or partnered. Her identity remains her own.
Through the use of collage, acrylic, and resin on wood, Van Atta combines the graphic clarity of commercial labeling with the physical presence of a substantial original artwork. The resin-finished surface enhances the visual precision of the composition while reinforcing its relationship to polished consumer imagery.
The extensive negative space is equally significant. Rather than filling the composition with decorative imagery, Van Atta allows the relationship between barcode and language to become the subject. The simplicity gives the declaration room to stand on its own, without apology or explanation.
Part of Van Atta's The Price of Her collection, Not Yours to Own examines the ways feminine identity has been shaped by systems of commerce, ownership, social expectation, and assigned value.
While smaller works in the series explore availability, measurement, and valuation, this large-scale painting confronts the fundamental question of possession.
Its message also introduces a deliberate contradiction: the artwork itself is available for purchase, but the human autonomy it represents is not.
The distinction is essential.
An artwork can become someone's property. A human being cannot.
Bold, confrontational, and unapologetically feminist, Not Yours to Own challenges viewers to reconsider the difference between love and control, appreciation and entitlement, and value and possession.
She is not a possession. She never was.
Artist: Alissa Van Atta
Title: Not Yours to Own
Year: 2026
Medium: Collage, Acrylic and Resin on Wood
Dimensions: 40 H × 30 W × 1.5 D inches
Original: One-of-a-kind mixed media artwork
Signed: Yes
Collection: The Price of Her
Price: $3,500
Availability: Available
The title Not Yours to Own expresses the artwork's conceptual message about human autonomy. The physical original is available for purchase.
Original artwork by Alissa Van Atta. Insured shipping can be arranged with protective packaging appropriate for the large resin-finished wood panel.
