“ The first thing to be said about my art is that it’s always an expression. This expression can take many forms, whether its a cathartic piece of therapeutic self discovery, a representation of the trials and tribulations of my lived experiences with mental health or gender identity, or just an area of research I am very passionate about. I love my work to be organic, to feel like it has space to breathe and feel like it can morph along the way, this is why I mostly love to use mixed media. There’s something special about when material can add dimension to the meaning of a work. This can be anything from using markers on acrylic to give a sense of permanent stains on a reality or cutting, dyeing and ripping old medical records to talk about how medical professionals sometimes don’t see their patients as more than diagnosis on a paper. My thesis work “Amensalism” is a product of that, it uses specific instruments seen in past traumatic medical imagery (wire and tubing), to create a piece where those materials become a manifestation of the trauma, instead of just an aspect. I want the emotions and feelings within my work to be the first thing you notice, because my work will always be an expression and exploration of my own hopes, dreams, traumas, and memories both good and bad.”