ABOUTArtistStatement

My work investigates the human spirit, our common experiences and our tender vulnerabilities. I often create durational, participatory projects that require the viewer’s participation in order to more directly talk about these subjects. Projects like The Bittersweet Chocolate Shop -in which I invite participants to exchange a heartache they have had in their life for a box of chocolates I made- asks participants to strip off their protective exterior and be vulnerable in sharing their experiences.

The materials and objects I make for these projects are ephemeral and consumable, having a fleeting, sensory effect (a smell, a taste, a sound) rather than being permanent collectable objects. This allows the objects to act as a go-between and serve as a mediator for an experience, a relationship or an opportunity I want the viewer to have.

My work is also an investigation of the affecting properties of a material or an object. What is it about objects that affect us so? Be it their shape, their design, their sentimentality, their symbol- objects affect us in ways we don’t always quite understand. Take, for example, a locket. Whether it is inscribed with a loved one’s initials or filled with their portrait and corporeal presence (like hair, for instance), its objective is to refer to the absence or facilitate the remembrance of that person. It is this property, an objects ability to refer to something other than itself, that I take as a source upon which to build.