Artist Statement
My artwork is an ongoing memoir. When my humanity sparks curiosity, I create art that seeks to find connections through vulnerability and the complexity of the human experience. My practice relies heavily on simplified forms, materiality, and the dense accumulation of small components to build a larger narrative. I hand-form thousands of small multiples—from serene female faces and maternal artifacts to block-like clay houses and pinched florals. This repetition mirrors domestic labor, which, while necessary, consumes our precious time. By juxtaposing delicate, pale porcelain elements against heavy, iron-rich clays, I structuralize the precarity of our existence.
This tension repeats itself throughout my practice as I investigate the divide between outward composure and internal reality. My most recent series, Masking, examines the quiet weight of presentation and the struggle with appearing vulnerable—specifically, the challenge of managing the invisible endurance of chronic illness while performatively meeting societal expectations. Running parallel to this, the series Same Boat frames modern life as an ocean of waves and ambiguous but sharp dangers. While our individual trajectories differ, the human condition routinely places us in the same vessel, navigating these collective uncertainties together.
My exploration of identity and endurance has evolved across the chapters of my life. It began in graduate school with the groWING UP series, which explored how innocence inevitably collides with the pressures of contemporary life. Later, after I became a mother, my focus shifted to the realities of raising children. The Motherhood in Modernity series depicts the simultaneous elation and emotional erosion of early parenting. By juxtaposing the historical archetype of the perfect parent with contemporary maternal artifacts, I expose the "in-the-trenches" reality of being spread too thin while striving to anchor a happy home. Similarly, the series Tranquil Turmoil examines the exhausting demands of caregiving and the tenuous balance between being a present parent and abandoning oneself.
My work is painfully honest about the daunting moments of my life, but it remains deeply committed to a fundamental question: Is there room for change and further growth? My hope is that the answer is always yes.