2026-Present
Artist Statement
Through artistic practice, I aim to develop a dress rehearsal for the rest of my life. Working in oil mediums on paper and board, through figuration and the essence of place with unfinished backgrounds, I stage memories and imagine interacting with loved ones, living and observing precious moments. The work acts as a welcome reprieve from the mentality of surviving. The drawn scenes double as tools for materialization, affirmations that I am deserving of love. In my mind, I built worlds in direct opposition to past traumas of my reality, and the fantastical landscapes I developed as a child. As an adult, I’ve shifted these landscapes into imaginings of a safe and fulfilling intimate life. The work is the actualization and vision board for mental and physical safety, a loving partner, a doting family, and a foreign country where I could be unscrutinized. Fantasy stops being escapism, and became a method of materialization. It becomes an opportunity for becoming alongside a life still being lived.