““I work with hybrids and dreamworlds to imagine a possible future beyond our own oppressive confines. Labyrinths suggests we face the darkest parts of ourselves in order to envision and embody the potential of queer other worlds.” Labyrinths explores themes of multi-species hybridity, fantastical worlds, monsters, childhood memories, gender, queer identity, and trauma. These concepts—composed of an array of creatures, lived experiences, and dreamscapes— materialize in six paintings, which evoke a duality of fear and comfort. I investigate the interplay between nature and horror through acrylic paint and rocks with an emphasis on abstraction, transfiguration, and materiality. These vehicles being neccesary tools to consider the self in relation to the uncanny and other-worldly. This is further elaborated on through the often sequential installation of my work to flesh out experiential, imagined worlds.My work seeks to provide an alternative lens through which to observe and experience the uncomfortable and disturbing, inviting curiosity and reflection. Labyrinths’ imagery prompts the viewer to uncover and reflect on their conceptions of the self and the body. Additionally, I work to shift and challenge reductive definitions of gender and sexuality through an exploration of demi-human beings and creatures—investigating the demonization of otherized bodies. I transform the horrific into something whimsical and bewitching.Through Labyrinths, I retrieve what lurks in the recesses of the mind, the beings of nightmares, buried and lost memories, relics of childhood, and manifests them in the physical world as a means of processing and healing. This healing then extends to the viewer, who I invite into my dystopian worlds to confront and navigate the dark and unsightly and move toward radical possible futures beyond our reality.”