STATEMENT OF WORK

I make work that questions legal system constructs.  My practice is multi-disciplinary, rooted in advocacy, and informed by two decades of experience as a social justice attorney.  

In 2016, following a surge of children crossing the US-Mexico border alone, I began making collaborative work with young clients of child immigrant aid organizations.  An initial body of work, Let It Be The Dream It Used To Be (2016-18), includes environmental portraits and documentation of photographs and writings by migrant youth.  Taking its title from Langston Hughes’ poem Let America Be America Again, the work challenges the concept of the American Dream and our duty to protect children.

Above The Fold (work in progress) builds upon that work.  As children’s paths through our immigration system became more perilous during the Trump administration, I started removing environments from children’s portraits and turned to screen printing as a method of redacting identifiable features while retaining the integrity of a participant’s likeness.  Printing portraits onto the front pages of local and national newspapers reframes daily narratives to prioritize children fleeing deadly risks; the original draft text and images add a protective code to the identities.

I utilize a range of media — photography, printmaking, installation, sound and video — incorporating investigative, documentary and conceptual elements. Engaging audiences with social issues is the common thread throughout.