Artist Statement

I am a multidisciplinary artist primarily focused on photography and paintings. My conceptual focus centers on people and emotions. I am particularly interested in the psychology of emotions that are conveyed through portraiture, including both the inner and outer expression of my subject. In an attempt to understand what compels my portrait subjects to express their emotions through actions, I will often get to know them through vulnerable conversations and interviews as part of my studio process. 

In my experience, there is an emotional spectrum between causation and the resulting emotional response/action. I believe that voicing one's emotions can often be socially challenging -- leading to mismatched responses that can be rooted in childhood development. 

Therefore, an important part of my artistic practice is that I capture a portion of my subject's story. For example, the moment chosen for the portrait might be a misleading reaction to the underlying emotions, or that my subject may express the exact inner and outer emotions. Through my study of my subjects’ experiences of expression, I work with them to translate their feelings into the final portrait.