Artist Statement:

Working in abstract expressionism is entirely new for me. Towards the end of 2020, a friend gave me several large surfaces and a palette knife, and the rest is history. I finally found a medium of pure emotional expression. These paintings have themes around isolation, surrender to nature, transcendental spiritual awakening, feeling safe/unsafe, sitting in discomfort, feeling lost and found, and a shared collective state of living here and now. This work has allowed me to explore worlds of color and light to exist in, pure feeling to come through my hands, and way to flow through an emotional state. It has allowed me to find myself through the process of its becoming.

Sharing my story has always been a challenge for me – understanding the depth of my emotional and sensory experience is something I am still learning to accept and love. I have always found myself gravitating towards the movement of my hands across paper or canvas when I cannot find words to express how I am feeling. Finding my flow state through playing and listening to music has been essential to my existence as well. I recently discovered my own neurodivergence, which has cracked me wide open. Aspects of myself which once brought shame and self-hatred, I now see as beautiful gifts and lenses to love myself through as I embrace my truth. My capacity for feeling emotion has been vexing and messy at times, and this series has been a way to channel that. I put on music, turn off my brain, and let my emotions take the wheel.  Each piece is an experiment in color, texture, and capturing these emotions. I had to allow room for patience in my process to create work which feels truly alive.

This is me sharing my story and experience – with splashes of color, texture, and shapes. This is how I perceive the world.