Life experiences have at times caused me to lose my sense of identity. Like the shedding of a snake’s skin, I have been in the process of both discovering and redefining my own true self, perhaps for the first time. My work seeks to explore my own relationship with identity. A part of this includes exploring the idea of rebirth through metaphorical death; how negative experiences drive the need to reinvent aspects of the self. I am interested in exploring where the line is regarding rendering the form as definitively human, and the mystical divisions within the self.
The majority of my work operates within the realms of a limited palette consisting of black, white, and the shades in-between, explored through mediums including charcoal, ink, and graphite. Charcoal is my chosen medium because of its malleable properties, it enables me to oscillate value back and forth through addition and erasure; and for its immediate gestural abilities.
The figure, specifically the female figure, is a mainstay in my work, as are aspects of a series of animals that occur repetitively throughout all mediums. The animals I portray throughout my work are each in a way a self-portrait. I am exploring their attributes, and my own, creating connections, and reflecting on the animal aspects of the human. When rendering the body, I am exploring the concept of the metaphysical. As I create these images, they function both as examinations of the self, and as the act documenting records of my identity.