Artist Statement

Growing up in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, the found treasures of my childhood were animal skulls and bones, insect carcasses, snake skins, and birds’ nests. I was fascinated by the fact that all living creatures are valued and categorized based on their exteriors, despite almost identical interior frames. What purpose does this superficial judgement serve in society? As a painter, mixed media, and collage artist, those early treasure collections continue to inspire me, and are never far from my mind as I explore themes of life, death, race, gender, and class. 

The human tendency to stigmatize and demean others based on physical features, cultural symbols, and social trappings, strips individuals of their dignity and reduces them to objects. In my work, I use numbers as symbolic representations of this dehumanization. Historically, numbers have been used to replace names and marginalized ethnic groups. The Holocaust,  the criminal justice system, and life in the digital age where our social media profiles reduce us to data points based on our consumer value are bought and sold, serve as brutal reminders of what people are capable of when they view others as numbers and not individuals.

This sorting and othering during our lives abruptly ends when we die. In death we are subject to a different kind of reduction--becoming one with the earth and inevitably each other. This paradox continues to capture my attention and drive conceptual exploration in my paintings.  I incorporate images of weather-worn, sun bleached human and animal remains that serve as a memento mori: In death we’re all equal. With that visual cue, the viewer is invited to examine their own biases and the universal tendency to place unfounded judgements upon our fellow humans.