Radiate Refuge 2024
Radiate Refuge is a piece that reflects my personal journey of digging through the layers of my past to understand how it shapes who I am today. Working with tree roots—uncovering, cleaning, and finding beauty in their form—feels like a direct parallel to the work of self-reflection and healing. The roots remind me of how connected I am to my past, and how investigating my own inherited values can ground me and help me grow. Just as roots adapt and grow around obstacles, they represent the personal growth that comes from navigating life's challenges.
The roots in this work symbolize the unseen connections that hold families and communities together, and how the work of maintaining those bonds is often invisible but essential. They also speak to the choices we make—whether to break old cycles, carry them forward, or remake them. For me, roots are about grounding, strength, and transformation.
The stained glass elements in Radiate Refuge add another layer to the piece, allowing light to shine through and transform what was once hidden. They represent the way I’ve reclaimed and reshaped parts of my religious heritage, turning painful, oppressive experiences into something that now feels more empowering. Together, the roots and stained glass explore the tension between what’s hidden and what’s visible, the labor of uncovering and transforming, and the process of making something new from what came before. Through this work, I’m looking at how we carry the weight of history while also finding ways to reshape our narratives and move forward.
Beneath the surface 2024
The Beneath the Surface project is about digging into my memories and finding connections to my childhood. Trees were my refuge, a place to climb and reflect, and they’ve always been a symbol of safety for me. For this project, I worked with tree roots, who like memories, are buried deep, and the process of bringing them to the surface feels like reclaiming something lost or hidden.
I also built a sandcastle, which ties back to my childhood home. Sandcastles are temporary and fragile, much like how memories can feel—something we try to hold onto, but can easily slip away. The roots and sandcastle together represent the balance between remembering and moving forward, showing how both our past and present shape who we are. This project is a way for me to honor those early memories, while also understanding how they’ve influenced me today.
Hidden Labor
The Hidden Labor video installation is a personal exploration of the unseen work that goes into the everyday tasks that often go unnoticed. The video captures the repetitive, sometimes mundane actions of domestic life, things like folding laundry or cleaning, using a kaleidoscope effect to transform these routine tasks into something visually mesmerizing. By slowing down and distorting these actions, I wanted to highlight how much effort and energy goes into things that many people might overlook.
For me, this piece is a reflection on the invisible labor, especially from a mother’s perspective, that shapes and sustains daily life. The video mirrors the exact time it takes to perform these tasks, drawing attention to the weight of these actions, even if they seem simple on the surface. It’s a way for me to acknowledge and elevate the quiet, repetitive work that holds everything together, work that often goes unrecognized, but is essential for life to function.
Mental Load 2023
The Mental Load project explores the overwhelming, invisible labor that comes with managing the responsibilities of domestic life. I used a grid of layered domestic papers—materials like household bills, school projects, and reminders—arranged in a grid like a never-ending calendar to symbolize the endless cycle of tasks and to-do lists that many women carry. Each circle represents a task, a deadline, or a responsibility, building up to create a visual reflection of the mental load that never seems to end.
The aluminum sculpture in the piece is a fragmented figure collapsing under the weight of this mental load. The figure, once whole and upright, is disintegrating and falling apart, mirroring the sense of exhaustion and fragmentation that comes with trying to balance everything at once. The sculpture’s collapse speaks to the fragility of trying to juggle these pressures, highlighting the emotional toll of managing a household, family, and self. Together, the calendar grid and the collapsing figure embody the strain and weight of the mental load, illustrating how the constant, often unseen work can be both physically and mentally exhausting. This project was a reflection on the invisible nature of this labor and how it can break down even the strongest of individuals.
Radiate Refuge 2024
Radiate Refuge is a piece that reflects my personal journey of digging through the layers of my past to understand how it shapes who I am today. Working with tree roots—uncovering, cleaning, and finding beauty in their form—feels like a direct parallel to the work of self-reflection and healing. The roots remind me of how connected I am to my past, and how investigating my own inherited values can ground me and help me grow. Just as roots adapt and grow around obstacles, they represent the personal growth that comes from navigating life's challenges.
The roots in this work symbolize the unseen connections that hold families and communities together, and how the work of maintaining those bonds is often invisible but essential. They also speak to the choices we make—whether to break old cycles, carry them forward, or remake them. For me, roots are about grounding, strength, and transformation.
The stained glass elements in Radiate Refuge add another layer to the piece, allowing light to shine through and transform what was once hidden. They represent the way I’ve reclaimed and reshaped parts of my religious heritage, turning painful, oppressive experiences into something that now feels more empowering. Together, the roots and stained glass explore the tension between what’s hidden and what’s visible, the labor of uncovering and transforming, and the process of making something new from what came before. Through this work, I’m looking at how we carry the weight of history while also finding ways to reshape our narratives and move forward.
