Born in 1977, artist River Irons spent an isolated childhood in Clinton, Maryland until 1991 when her family joined a cult in Kansas. After escaping the cult in 2001, Irons returned to Maryland where she now works as a writer and visual artist, drawing on her early life to explore constructs of race and patriarchy in classical art, architecture, and triumphalist historical narratives. She shares short stories about her childhood and is writing a memoir that challenges culturally entrenched assumptions about overcoming adversity in America. She has shown her visual works at notable institutions including Notre Dame University of Maryland, Goucher College, and The George Washington University.