ARTIST STATEMENT
My primary interest in making art is to create spaces for creative conversation and dialogue. Art is the way that people connect and change amidst the hard and heavy parts of the human condition. The tradition of storytelling, communal knowledge and the archetypal themes of the Mother and the Trickster inform the way that I think about art-making, whether for myself or as a part of conversations that I facilitate in various communities.
Making art is a process that combines the practical with the fanciful, continually negotiating between communication and evocation. My work with communities hinges on developing practical expressions for group imaginary for which there may not be an already existing language. Through the use of familiar materials, methods or gestures it is possible to develop an expressive language that the community values as their own.
My practice provokes taken-for-granted social dynamics, creating dialogue and conversation about the heavy and disordered power relationships that exist between groups and people, institutions and citizens. My work facilitates space for undeserved populations to speak directly to power and raise questions about their own power, using art and expression as a catalyst for empowerment of the individual and their community.