Connections, bonds, associations, links, ties - what do all of these words have in common? They all correlate back to human interactions and why my artist practice is so based around these terms.

 

From countless hours of research, along with being heavily inspired by the conversations that I have had within my community(s) during the last five years. These correlations are why my work has become so focused on connections and how they interweave us all together. One person’s experience is able to tie back to another’s in some way or form, good or bad. Taking from my own participation in life and from either my close-knit community or from larger communities, I’m creating imagery that can relate to a lot of people's vulnerability. Creating something that’s also personal.

 

Looking at the body of work that I’m currently working with in terms of printmaking. They all come from a place of sorrow, grief, love and reflection. Hearing about the struggles and wins that fellow peers have experienced in their relationships and the struggles I have also experienced in my own relationships. Trying to find justification for something that doesn’t necessarily need justification or figuring out, how I identify with myself and those around me. The imagery separately holds to itself but the body of works together creates something of a narrative as well.

 

Imagery relating back to how connections are a luck of the draw, how it feels like someone would take a bullet for the person they truly love. That we can feel so controlled in certain situations, like puppets and that as we grow and mature, we have to learn to live with ourselves. Placed together in specific arrangements you get a narrative that looks into the intimate pieces of people's lives that aren’t always put on display. Instead, it’s something vulnerable and exposed.