AGUA

2020

My work has undertones of a search for origin, encompassing the juxtaposition of both the individual and collective, aloneness and togetherness. Though having been trained as a cultural anthropologist to observe individual and societal differences, I have made it a conscious practice to focus first on shared experiences. I feel drawn towards an older sense of belonging, beyond borders and countries to a more innate kinship. When I am outdoors I feel a primal sense of connectedness, that I belong here in the natural landscape of things.  Feeling the breeze, the cool fluidity of water, the sensation of the soil beneath my feet, I have a visceral sense of homecoming. My recent art is focused on the elemental way we experience the natural world, this quiet observation and presence as a humble kind of prayer. What can we observe about the natural world that tells us about ourselves, each other and about God? There is a mystery to simplicity, a way that we can re-experience the magic that we’ve become accustomed to.  

I am astounded at the thoroughness of beauty that can be found everywhere around us. This world is so unnecessarily abundant, and I think it may be a physical metaphor of a deeper truth that we have lost touch of.  This earth is our habitat and home, and this shared heritage will always be a deeper truth than our differences.  Our birthright is one another, this entire family of living beings.  I suspect the further we get from the rhythms of this earth, and the more removed we are from our own naturalness, the further we are from ourselves and one another.  

As an artist, I am interested in what we have in common as humans, as creatures who inhabit this earth. I hope that my art creates a spaciousness to witness the abundance of the natural world, to cultivate a space for deeper presence, and remind us that everyone and everything is sacred.