Artists Statement: Younger me found myself in a box where I was constantly expected to be this nice, quiet, unproblematic girl, so I used art and storytelling to communicate and get through tough situations. In kindergarten, I was the queen of Malgoore (a Giant Country/my imaginary world). It was often easier to live in the land of giants than one where it mattered whether I had fancy shoes or a new backpack.
As I grew, time spent in Malgoore turned to time spent in my sketchbook. Soon after, I became interested in inviting people into my world through garments and installations.
I soon began consistently using motifs to express specific struggles; some to show the pressure to be quiet, some to show the effects of learning to use my voice and some that symbolize the thing I want to speak out about. A bag with a painted smile or lampshade over a young girl’s head symbolizes the pressure to be a light at the cost of self-expression. One more motif is my monsters. They are rooted in waking dreams but also symbolize the effects of feeling the ability, or lack thereof, to speak. Stars represent individuals and are also a fascination of mine, as I have watched them become dimmer throughout my life as a result of light pollution. Hulibums are large metal/elephant creatures who embody urban sprawl and pollution, laying eggs that will soon hatch and spread even more.
My art evolved from a tool to express my frustration at my difficulties with speaking out to trying to help others with similar problems. I write stories and make art steeped in childlike wonder and surrealism, weaving together topics such as pollution, lack of voice, and my monsters to make them more approachable. I use these somewhat eerie bedtime story scenes to convey that a scary situation can be talked about in a more playful and optimistic light.
