Artist Statement
I want to acknowledge that Los Angeles is built on the stolen land of the Tongva people, and that this idea of displacing indigenous people and ignoring the way they thrive with the land and its creatures, is one of the first places we see western civilization pulling away from, and rejecting nature.
My work takes our growing detachment and mistrust of nature, the land and all it contains, as an important entry point. I am thinking about materiality and extraction, the way that capitalism drives corporations to extract at great cost to all beings, the planet and its future, but especially to poor people and black, indigenous and people of color. Corporations are poisoning drinking water and polluting air. They are demolishing habitats and bio diversity for oil and meat.
Beauty is a strategy for creating hope. I am interested in how the transformation of something ordinary into something aesthetic has the power to change perspectives and priorities. Hope is where we start.
My work addresses an array of complex contemporary issues, questioning dominant ethics and narratives throughout history, and asking how we can shift our focus away from the current oppressive, capitalist model of domination to one of equity and collective voice, for the sake of all people, animals and the planet.