Artist Statement: With every change comes loss, and with loss comes grief. Though we may try to avoid our grievances, we are constantly changing. When first observing grief, we see it as a sorrowful emotion that represents loss and sadness. However, exploring grief brings many different emotions into play. When I began making my work about my grief, I focused on the seven stages, confining myself to what people are knowledgeable of when undergoing a process of loss. The color palette that I used directly reflected this. Dull and monochrome colors emphasize despair but an accent of red for metaphorical contrast. Red represents the contrasting feelings of grief. Anger and pain we feel? Or love and passion, which is associated with red as a color. 

I began to question how far the concept of grief can be pushed. Universality entered my work when I started to pivot my art to encompass others around me. Grief is a universal sentiment. I was told that we all go through change; therefore, we go through some grief, which is loss. Realizing that we all undergo loss, I bring empathy into the picture. If we can understand each other's loss, we can empathize with each other. By introducing interactivity to my thesis, I can personally interact with my audience. Whether through tattooing, creating immersive experiences, or interviewing, I realized that means of communication can evoke empathy in others. 

Grief is an emotional cycle everyone feels, but the healing and spaces between each stage are important. The healing that happens when you accept something is the turning point from anger to pain—my palette's turning point into yellow. I seek to empathize with others. Through change comes loss, and loss comes grief. Everyone is to understand the empathy that comes with one's grief. Grief is its own form of love. To realize how thankful we should be that we miss people. We should be grateful that we grieve, demonstrating that we care and love.