Artist Statement

Take, use, consume. We as people have a tendency to take for granted the things we have, the people in our lives, and the time we have with them. I was once a part of this cycle until my world flipped upside down. When I was fourteen years old, my father passed away, and as I have gotten older, I have lost others in my life, which has fueled my relationship with grief. Dealing with grief is a central theme across most of my work and what I often find myself drawn to. I think it’s the overall process of creating something new and the expression of my feelings using visual narratives in my work that allows me to process my grief. In my current body of work, The Consumption, I am reflecting on my grief over the people whom I have lost in my life, the things that have taken up my time, and how the world pushes things upon us, which have all consumed different aspects of my life. My goal is to invite the viewer into my world and to form a connection over the experiences I’m voicing in my work.

This body of work is largely oil or acrylic on canvas, with some ceramic sculptures. In these, I use the composition of other artists' work as a stepping stone to further my concept of the consumption of time, objects, and people, which in itself plays into the consumption of art. With my paintings, I aim to render convincing forms to develop three-dimensional figures and objects in a two-dimensional space. I do this because I want to bring to life the visual narrative I’m creating, to make it believable for myself and the viewer. I like to include an abundance of hidden references using objects that refer to different aspects of my personal journey with grief. In this series, I have hidden hourglasses, either fully rendered or of the silhouette form, to further the concept of the consumption of time to the viewer. When creating these figures and other forms, I am relying on inventing some of these elements using my imagination and some from observation. I often find myself depicting the human figure with exaggerated or altered features to reflect my feelings, such as numbness, pain, disassociation, and as a tool to make the viewer uneasy.

The visual narratives I depict in my work are reflections of my personal journey with grief and have become a cathartic process for me to work through my grief. These artworks highlight how I've seen the consumption of things, people, and time since I was a kid till present day. The act of putting visuals to invisible feelings and thoughts gives me an outlet to express myself. With this body of work, my goal is to remind people to appreciate the time they have with their loved ones and to be kind to those around them because you never know how much time you have with them till their gone.