2024 Artist statement:

Creating with vibrant, queer imagination, my work is inspired by all forms of storytelling throughout human history, as well as the repetition and specificity of our collective experience. The self-portraits can’t exist without every version of myself working together to create something obviously man-made. It is the antithesis of touchless, modern-day overproduction. I am also greatly inspired by a sense of community and personhood. Self-portraits are inherently singular and self-focused, but I work to express the feelings and experiences I think American culture tends to avert its eyes from. Denying these versions of ourselves is self-harm and fully against nature, which we are. We are morally gray mammals—animals of flesh and bone. Each of us is lucky enough to be sentient in a body with the unique ability to communicate through written, spoken, and visual language. In a world overrun by soulless, faceless corporations, my work is purposefully bare, exposed, and deeply personal. I make a large variety of work because my goal is to express my humanity in every way I can think of. I am fortunate because it is in my nature. Growing up, I was an outcast who spent most of my time in my imagination, endlessly searching for my reflection in the world around me. Like many of us strive to do, I’ve spent most of my adulthood trying to carve out a space for that young person and for all others seeking.