Artist Statement

As a child, I grew up embedded in trauma that has continually shaped the way I navigate my life. My work is deeply rooted in struggling to cope with childhood neglect, parentification, hoarding, violence, and abuse. Despite consciously shrouding these things in secrecy and shame for most of my life, they have been a constant source of anxiety, worry, and hurt. They are the immediate cause of my maladaptive coping mechanisms and have caused a large rift in my life. Using this personal history as a basis for my work, I often incorporate personal narratives and coping mechanisms and combine them with gestures of perseverance and resiliency. My practice recognizes the push and pull of growing up in adverse conditions. It is a balancing act of acceptance and protection; a constant agonizing over what may or may not be too taboo to disclose. I create forms that hold remnants of these experiences with the intent of creating a space for them to unashamedly exist.

My work shows that healing from trauma is never straightforward. Instead, it is multi-faceted and composed of layers upon layers of enmeshment and entanglement that need to be meticulously undone. By confronting these convoluted familial dynamics, cyclical cycles of abuse, and the unsafe conditions I grew up in, my works are acts of resistance with a goal to detach and protect. Ultimately, I use my work as a method of reclamation. By bringing these narratives out of secrecy, I aim to dissolve shame and cultivate a sense of resiliency, growth, and survival. My work seeks to expose, to document what was once hidden and never spoken about, to create a space where these often unspoken stories can be shared without fear, and to acknowledge the resiliency needed to survive.