About Me

Within the last year, I have found myself focusing on a few particular themes in my work that I want to continue to explore in my studio practice. I’m interested in body image, sexuality and identity, the ideals of childhood, and the re-examination of objects. Because of my personal struggles with body image and eating disorders, I have always avoided depicting the body, especially the female form and instead focused on material objects. Within the last year, I've come to appreciate the value of the body and how it can express more things besides the physical form we see. The body can mean vulnerability, insecurity, power, and desire, which I want to continue to explore as I work through my own mental blocks. Similarly, I’ve also begun experimenting with my expression of my identity as queer, what that means to me and how I choose to portray that. I’m finding stability and beauty in expressing the hidden parts of myself through mediums such as printmaking and drawing where I can really utilize layers to reflect the complexities I feel regarding my upbringing and identity conflict.

 

I tend to frequent a cartoon-like style when portraying things that I identify as traits of childhood or the innocent and pure ideals that only a child can truly feel because they’re not yet corrupted by all the negative influences and pressures that we face every day. I struggle to remember parts of my childhood, so I really have a fascination with imagining the feelings that I might’ve felt, the way I may have seen the world, and how I can portray that in a reflective and contemplative way that shows that “lost” ghost of a feeling. In the spirit of childish exploration, I think there’s also a fascinating phenomenon in the age of technology and the overlooked nature of mundane objects. There are so many things that we use, walk by, and overlook every day because we take their existence for granted, but what happens when we stop to really look at them, what happens when we change their context, their appearance, their use? 

 

I am currently focusing on developing my skills in ceramics, printmaking, and drawing and using the powers of distortion, repetition, and a varying mixture of realistic and cartoonish styles to examine my history, identity, and childish exploration.