Artist Statement
In short, I am a wanderer and a thinker; a curious mind.
In full, I am an interdisciplinary artist who is fascinated by dance, life, food, art, movement, and nature. My process is idea based; I always begin with a thought. My day to day fuels my work. I think, I ideate, I move, I write, I dance, and everyday I try to expand the tools in my toolbox. I try to balance the feeling and the thought. My work can thus be very conceptual, but I aim to translate the concept - whether it is an idea, an emotion, or an ambiance - into something that has visual appeal, something that flows. Concepts give my mind the freedom to follow even its wildest schemes, to move with its natural ebb and flow. Meanwhile, my rational mind attempts to reel these thoughts back in, so that they may be expressed. It is a constant dance between fantasy and reality.
I seek to position dance at the center of everything I do. Not always literally, but always in spirit. In doing so, my hope is to highlight the beautiful complexity of dance. Its multifacetedness. Dance isn’t just what it appears to be. It isn’t just a series of steps.
I want to bring people together. I want to provide a safe space for artists to come together and simply create. Experiment, explore, enjoy. Collaborate, generate, ideate. Freely, without constraint.
Writing is an essential part of my practice. It is the result of an accumulation of inspiration, of my mind’s ruminations and observations, of what I read everyday and gather from my surroundings. I am inspired by food bloggers and journalists just as much as I am by poets and novelists. Through my work, I intend to reveal the artistry of life, reveling in the poeticism of simple pleasures. All of my works are tied together by a sense of fluidity and movement, which exists on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level.
“Beauty is a basic service,” Theaster Gates once said. He is an artist who hails from my hometown of Chicago and who I deeply respect. To me, there is nothing more true than this statement. The implication is: everyone deserves beauty.
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