Artist Statement
I strive to create art that stimulates personal reflection while expressing the deep connections we share with others around us.
As an artist, I am interested in expressions of deep connection between people, juxtaposed with the uniqueness and diversity we all contain. I am most drawn to projects that tie in social justice messaging, and explore individual creative expression in new and unique ways.
I work primarily with photography, word art and poetry.
With my flower photography, I use Adobe Creative Suite to show the contrast between the flowers - all photographed in natural settings - and a stark black background to emphasize the beauty of the flowers. The high contrast tricks the viewer into focusing on the stunning quality of the colors, shapes, petals, and power of the flowers against the jet-black background, until they read the title of each piece, which all suggest the crumbling façade and fleetingness of ultimately anything beautiful - or perhaps anything at all. What better representation than flowers – so beautiful yet fragile, alive yet easily dead, present yet fleeting - to portray the duality of life?
Ideas are important to me. I try to create new ways of thinking and understanding in my artworks that are perhaps different from other artists.
I answer questions such as: How do we understand people on a deeper level? How do we appreciate the complexity of humanity? How do we create art that is simple but powerful?
My story
Art has always been a way for me to find joy, and it allows me to escape the world through exploring it.
I have been artistic for as long as I can remember. I studied art in college, and now as a member of the Central Minnesota community, I have started to take art more seriously as a profession because of the many opportunities to share my work. When I am not creating new work, I am giving workshops, collaborating on art projects with other artists, or writing poetry.
As a woman of color who immigrated to the USA as a young child, I have tried to incorporate social justice elements in my art and make art that reflects those values. I grew up with a social scientist, so those topics are always embedded within my art. My art studies have deepened my own desire to create art that causes people to pause and reflect on the similarities and differences they share with others.
I love not only creating art, but collaborating with other artists as well. I am interested in artworks that have meaningful background stories, and art that expresses ideas that are outside box. I enjoy art that makes me wish I had thought of the creative idea first, and pushes me to consider the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.