I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico and now live in Manhattan, Kansas. I work primarily in oil paint but I also dabble in printmaking, photography, and fiber arts. My work is currently focused on working class struggles and reimagining biblical stories. Previous series of work such as the All The Tears We Cry series which was shown in September 2023 was thematically centered on coming of age as a woman in a patriarchal society.
My ongoing roadkill series highlights the issue of habitat destruction, pollution, and industrialization. My process includes photographing roadkill I find and interpreting it in a painting or linocut. Teardrops are a featured motif in this series as well as others of mine, representing here the mourning and loss felt for these creatures, which died because of humanity's refusal to cohabitate. The visual contrast between the soft fur or feathers of the animals in my pieces and the desaturated, hard pavement they spend their final moments on serves as a reminder to viewers that nature was here first and continues to be in places we claim as our own.
As the series continues to develop i find myself exploring even more facets of these themes; for example, the attached image is an oil painting of a pigeon i found sadly passed away in a grocery store parking lot. Each piece to me is a story. For this one, it looked like a kid dropped their cookie while getting in the car and it was left there because it's assumed the birds will clean up after us humans when we litter food. In this case, it caused the bird to linger too long in this parking space and it was unfortunately killed for it. The pigeon, once humanity's companion, now vilified as a pest, carries extra symbolism of our species' disregard for nature once it no longer serves us. The teardrops in this piece manifest as physical texture; it looks as if the pavement is crying, representing how the earth grieves for its creatures and feels the loss of all we've done to it. Glitter represents pollution in these works, specifically plastic, which never decomposes and continues to pose a bigger threat as more is produced.
