Artist Statement

My work explores how self-identity is consciously collected over time. My multicultural and rootless upbringing taught me that adaptability is key to survival, but it also delayed the development of my own sense of self. As a result, I’ve become fascinated with the curation of personality. I have spent most of my life with very little personal agency, and the independence I have finally gained now comes with many conditions and limitations. My work is a way for me to explore those limits and express myself and my identity within them. I am a raw and newborn thing who is still learning myself. The recurring nudity of my figures reflects my journey to find confidence through vulnerability. Each of us chooses what to hold on to and what to discard, which overtime builds a personal mythology. I use my work to reference my own myths and how they have been cultivated throughout my life.

Motherhood and domesticity are at the center of what I explore. I think about the pressure for mothers to fill both traditional female and male roles and how oppressive that weight can be. My work often directly references furniture, specifically bedframes, as a symbol of domestic pressure, femininity, autonomy, and home. I use both hard and soft materials in my work such as wood and fabric to represent the interplay of traditional gender roles. I’m also drawn to intentional acts of futility - expending energy into fruitless endeavors and how that is linked to the joy and burden of motherhood. My work examines the idea of freedom being conditional. Autonomy comes at a price and independence is often dispensed in controlled portions, especially to women and mothers. I use sharp geometry and intentional framing to visually communicate these constraints.