I've been called an empath.
It manifests as heightened sensitivity to incoming energy—to sound and music, tone of voice, temperature, the way the light falls across shapes in a room. From empathy comes intuition. And a tendency to internalize others' emotional states. I'm a good listener. I'm less good at expressing myself verbally.
Photography is my living, but it is also a release for all that I absorb. Transformation is a theme that appears often in my work. Recent projects explore coming of age, as well as the physical aspects of aging. Through the lens as well as through collage, I capture, examine and share fleeting moments. These are moments when I'm not thinking or absorbing. I just feel and create.
This page contains links to recent projects. Some works are available for purchase.
Arrested Decay explores aging beauty and transformation using materials collected from local environments and suspended within blocks of ice. Through the lens, these sculptures capture moments of beauty hidden in the process of decomposition; becoming windows into an unseen and almost magical world.
Awards and Exhibitions
Project, LA Center of Photography, Los Angeles, 2022
Botanicals, Smith Gallery, Austin, Texas, 2022
Made in California, Brea Gallery, Brea, California, 2023
Award of Excellence, Communication Arts Photography Annual, 2023
Selected prints are available for sale.
Arrested Decay
Perfect is not a word contrasts my emotional journey into adulthood with the photographs taken by my family along the way. Through collage I am able to separate figure from background and moment from context; recomposing images from fragments of locations, symbols, time periods, and photos from my own personal archive. The results are wholly imperfect as documents of the past—but perhaps more truthful statements about how I felt and who I became.
Group Exhibition
Atelier 38, Griffin Museum of Photography, Boston, 2024
Perfect is not a word
For me, collage is an act of self expression and mode of meditative practice. As an empath, it is my release for the emotional energy that I absorb throughout the rest of the day. For more than a year I have dedicated time most mornings to building this body of work. I don’t think. I just cut and compose. The source material I use to create this work is drawn from a variety of avenues, which also serves as a reminder to remain artistically aware of my surroundings.
Works in Collage
In 2016, I found myself seated at a communal table with a 92-year-old man named Noble. Unbidden, he shared “five rules of life” with me. I wrote down these five wisdoms and posted them to Instagram along with a portrait of Noble that I took with my iPhone. For the next three years, I became obsessed with shooting portraits while gathering words of wisdom—from friends, acquaintances and complete strangers that I met while traveling across three continents. The Five Wisdoms Project culminated in a solo exhibition of portraiture and a published book.
Exhibition and Publication
Solo Exhibition, Suite Six, Manhattan Beach, 2022
The Five Wisdoms Project, 130-page book, published 2019