Artist Statement
I create art in reaction to my lived experiences. The purpose of art is to communicate. Through my work I speak out about current and historical challenges of individual and systematic patterns of injustice. Because oppression is not just “out there” in the world but experienced within our own bodies, minds and hearts, it is through art that I see a vehicle for change. The art that I create breathes and morphs into a vision, expanding the storytelling of a moment, space, and continuation of my endurance.
The representation of society’s categories and labels regarding gender and identity allow me to interpret social contradictions visually. Within mass media, social environments and personal experiences there are a number of conflicting definitions of the “norm”. By placing people in recognizable, functional forms and categories that are gender specific and socially acceptable a sense of satisfaction hovers in place to generate order. It is in the disturbance of order that I flourish.
I am fully aware that those that exist outside of the norm drive “societal shifts” and therefore I choose to create art that speaks out. The focus of my work is to bring out contradictions, discriminations, fears, and myths that are associated within gendered cultures.
I consider the means at my disposal such as newspaper
clippings, old
advertisements, paper dolls, photographs, postcards, hobby/craft
materials, and text to propagate and expose nostalgic belief systems
that are meant to bend because of forward thinking traditions.
Alternative Gallery 