Creating is an act of resistance and an antonym to fascism. Community and creation go hand in hand. I am torn between feelings of hope and grief in response to what I see happening in our politics, but I have found comfort through shared creativity. Food, music, nature, and painting bring communities together in a way that establishes a feeling of solidarity through shared experiences. I use my art as a weapon, not in the literal sense, but as a way of communicating a message that advocates for change and brings people together.
Growing up in a military family has shaped my interest in other cultures, my passion for protecting human rights, and my understanding of trauma, suffering, and death. My education in the arts has been aided by a military-based scholarship that comes from my dad’s disability. It is especially important that I use my education to make something good come from my dad’s adversity and our family’s complicity in problematic systems like the military.
My paintings are for everyday people to feel seen, comforted, and reflective of their complicity in oppressive systems and ideologies. My paintings also make people benefiting from fascism uncomfortable and serve as a self-reminder of my civic duty to challenge systems that benefit me but harm my neighbors. When I paint, I listen to folk artists like Woody Guthrie who use art to speak on political issues. Woody once wrote in a journal entry, "I am a changer, a constant changer. I have to be or die. Because whatever stops changing is dead. And I am alive." As a painter, I am a grinder. A painting must have clarity of message to feel complete. I yearn for a death to complicity, where there is a future in which the world is better and I have nothing left to say. Till then, I must paint.
I work mostly from perception and sometimes en plein aire. The mark-making and color choices in my work must authentically express how I view the world around me. I challenge myself to loosen up while also accepting an awkward tightness that reflects my personality. The marks in my paintings create a lively balance between stillness and urgency.