STATEMENT #4

As a person of mixed racial and ethnic background, I am quite familiar with existing in and identifying with two different groups at once. Although I identify with two unique cultures, I am often pressured to choose between the two. It is an awkward, sometimes uncomfortable position to be in, and at times it makes me feel that I am not a part of either camp, but in my own grey area between the two. I suppose this is the reason for my fascination with people's perceptions of each other, and my own perception of myself, which is constantly influx. The act of making art has, as a result, become for me a constant reexamination of myself, as well as a way of questioning notions of truth and identity.

What defines identity? As people, we individually identify with communities greater than ourselves, with society, collective entities that often dictate certain protocols, perception, and cultural codes. In a sense, then, we are what they say we are. These groups use various tools and constructions to differentiate themselves. Clothing and fashion, social cliques, race, sexuality, language, possession, and nowadays technology are all basic methods of building an identity. And yet, on a much more personal level, there are the much more interesting and mysterious relationships that individuals develop through their experiences that really seem to either define, or completely shroud them. Intimate elements, and nostalgia, in the form of keepsakes, heirlooms, words and text, and collections, help us to remember who we are. While these things are ephemeral by nature, they carry a timeless quality.

Exploring this ironic truth raises questions about reality and perception, as well as the idea of simultaneous attachment and detachment. I try to achieve a similar sense of uneasy truth in my work by juxtaposing or combining seemingly opposing imagery, dealing with collections and series, and through my choice in materials. Wood, paper, string, and clay maintain the natural and handmade quality that I think also exists in my prints, while simultaneously belying the occasionally modern and technologically generated content of my imagery. I also believe that such natural materials and the direct human involvement in their manipulation helps to give my objects and prints their own intimate and timeless quality.