About

My mixed media sculptures and textile works are a form of storytelling that engages with the objects humans collect and attribute sentimental meaning to, as well as the practice itself of collecting, arranging, and safeguarding such objects. Through materials and visual form, I explore how these practices are a way of asserting personal agency, conceptualizing one’s place in a complex and ever-changing world, and nonverbally communicating an intentional narrative to others. I investigate sentimental objects through the framework of material cultural studies: these objects not only hold individual and collective memory - memory of a person, place, or experience, or how the object came into one’s hands - but also engender emotional experiences in a two-way relationship with their owners. In artworks such as Safekeeping, I consider the practice of preserving objects through a feminine lens, evoking a personal history of my female ancestors as the stewards of precious objects, an extension of their purposeful curation of the home. In other artworks, such as Roots/Routes, I draw on the rich history of quilts as visual storytellers, understanding how domestic spaces reveal familial stories through the objects humans fill them with, which continue existing narratives and generate new conversations as they change hands. 

 

My artworks are made from ordinary objects and materials, keeping in mind that sentimental objects transcend any past, present, or future economic value in a traditional sense. I consider durability, texture, and what is made visible or invisible to the viewer, particularly when exploring the spaces objects exist in, such as a pocket. I may work with natural or ephemeral materials, as in the case of my ongoing tea bag quilt titled Steeping, pondering how my work will evoke the passage of time visually and sensorially. Inherent to my creative practice is the accumulation of a repertoire of objects and materials I find sentimental or simply visually beautiful. My collections serve as a personal lexicon for communicating my ideas to my audience, and through them, I see, feel, and exist as a human and artist. I may not use pieces in my collection in my artwork until years later, but they are perpetual sources of inspiration for my artmaking and writing. I consider my final pieces to be sentimental objects themselves, carrying different emotional weight in each unique space and context I place them in. Ultimately, I aim to create artwork that both preserves and generates stories - stories that simultaneously act as a lens through which I understand my metamorphosis over a lifetime and elicit a larger framework of female collecting as a practice of passing on solidarity and wisdom to younger generations.