My paintings and drawings examine the tension between desire, instinct, and learned behavior, utilizing figurative representation to navigate complex psychic narratives. Inspired by dreams, subconscious states, and non-linear storytelling, my work explores our collective aversion to discomfort, the pursuit of pleasure, and the historical equation of "naturalness" with morality.
I approach "Nature" as a non-gendered, unbiased entity that has been heavily burdened by social significance. Conventional associations of Nature with "the good" often limit our understanding of the environment by sanitizing it—excluding the cruel, the grotesque, and the perverse. By acknowledging the full spectrum of Nature’s will, I seek to dismantle the negative discourse surrounding human behaviors often categorized as "unnatural" or "queer".
Working from imagination, I translate these inquiries into paint-and-chalk-layered illustrations that excavate the fate of characters inhabiting distorted worlds. Through physical accumulation of medium, I create spaces where time is non-linear and intentionality can be peeled back, piece by piece.
Ultimately, my work questions how our nature and learned behavior impact our relationships, and how our queerness shapes us. These paintings suggest that our private desires are never formed in isolation; we are always moving through a living history, accompanied and sustained by the ghosts of those who desired before us.