My paintings and drawings examine the tension between internal and external desire, 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 mirror how psychology informs the visual experience. This layering process serves as a literal excavation: I conjure distorted characters and impossible worlds to explore my own feelings around queerness, desire, and mortality.
Ultimately, my work asks: Who is standing in the room with us when we kiss? Who is watching over us when we love? By invoking these spirits, the work serves as a testament to the fact that no queer person has ever truly been alone; in our most private moments of desire, we are always, at every moment, held by a thousand angels.