Heir Cut, 2019

Through the cathartic process of making paper, came the validation of a truth I have previously only assumed-history is fragile.

The work deconstructs history, quite literally, in the process of shredding the genealogical record of my maternal grandfather's side, which originates from what is now New Mexico, but since Native American records are hard to find, most of the record traces back through colonizers from Spain. The printed document is 93 pages long and I cut each line by hand with scissors.

Names, dates and events were lost when I blended the shredded paper to a pulp. As I stirred the pulp into a tub of water, creating a cloudy white pool, I thought about how mine isn't the only story of white washing. Many Native traits, properties, and identities have been lost in the murky white waters of assimilation.

When I strained the pulp with a screen, it reminded me of the way that history is selective in the way that it chooses to remember people. Many pieces get left out and forgotten. And after that, when I left the paper out to dry, I realized that it's only the chemistry between particles that keeps the new page intact. If it were to ever meet the wash again it would surely fall apart.

Then there's my hair, weaving in and out between the pages, a reference not only to my actual DNA that connects me to this his-tory, but also an embodiment of my searching and effort to keep my identity intact, an effort to tie some knots.

ENAMOIRÉ, 2024

Hand painted and dyed silk, tulle

Installed at the Indiana Convention Center as part of the Indiana Global Economic Summit 2024. For Sale Here.

Moire patterns are an optical phenomenon produced when two or more similar, partially transparent patterns are overlaid. The typically-undesirable interference pattern is commonly an issue in digital imaging, photography, and screen display. I deliberately produce these effects with tactile materials to create undulating, ethereal screens that prompt wonder and a rewarding curiosity.

Heir Cut, 2019

72” x 84” handmade paper from my genealogical record, my hair

Through the cathartic process of making paper, came the validation of a truth I have previously only assumed-history is fragile.

The work deconstructs history, quite literally, in the process of shredding the genealogical record of my maternal grandfather's side, which originates from what is now New Mexico, but since Native American records are hard to find, most of the record traces back through colonizers from Spain. The printed document is 93 pages long and I cut each line by hand with scissors.

Names, dates and events were lost when I blended the shredded paper to a pulp. As I stirred the pulp into a tub of water, creating a cloudy white pool, I thought about how mine isn't the only story of white washing. Many Native traits, properties, and identities have been lost in the murky white waters of assimilation.

When I strained the pulp with a screen, it reminded me of the way that history is selective in the way that it chooses to remember people. Many pieces get left out and forgotten. And after that, when I left the paper out to dry, I realized that it's only the chemistry between particles that keeps the new page intact. If it were to ever meet the wash again it would surely fall apart.

Then there's my hair, weaving in and out between the pages, a reference not only to my actual DNA that connects me to this history, but also an embodiment of my searching and effort to keep my identity intact, an effort to tie some knots.

Liminal, 2020

oil and video projection on panel

Liminal describes a space that exists on both sides of a threshold; it's an invitation to embrace mystery and curiosity. In a society that favors clarity over ambiguity and tends toward polarizations, especially in definitions of identity, my work provides a representation for people who don't fit neatly into boxes.

Drawing inspiration from my mixed ethnicity, I am refusing definition.

What does it mean to exist in a state of in-betweeness? What is in the middle of being seen / unseen; becoming / unbecoming; fact / fiction; love / fear?