Artist Statement:

By contrasting elements of both the urban and terrestrial, I attempt to give form to the tensions of absence/presence between geographies, cultures, and how larger patterns of migration and conquest throughout history collapse physical boundaries and reshape identity. Using forms that refer to the worlds constituted by both the social and the biological, I interrogate the parallels, dissonances and grey areas between these alleged dichotomies. The language of painting conveys tactile visual experience allowing me to give equal weight to the processes of creation and deterioration, calling attention to the impermanence and fragility of what's around us. My painting practice is rooted in collage and combines process-oriented mark making (using tea stain for example) with representational elements, staging an evocative interplay between the two. I recast and recombine architectural remnants, landscapes and iconography but without explicit narratives, alluding to the dislocated/disembodied ways we function today.