STATEMENT OF WORK

At some point in my childhood, I began making shrines around dead animals I found in the woods. A bat, a bird, a squirrel. Each time I came upon one of these creatures, I’d place sticks, rocks, and plants around the body in some esoteric configuration. It wasn’t about making meaning, but about marking the feeling of mystery and unknowability I found there. The landscape held secrets.

When I think about that mystery, it speaks to what Byung-Chul Han, in his book Vita contemplativa, describes as a “radical immanence,” a presence in the places we dwell that we often overlook because we don't make time to reflect. In my practice, I want to make mysterious and charged things that speak to that immanence and encourage a slowing down. I investigate the ways in which diverse events and agents create complex, unknown worlds, right where we are. By attempting to make work that re-enchants our environment and the places where we dwell, I aim to foster renewed connection with the physical world. In a time of environmental destruction and disconnection with place, I believe we must slow down and truly encounter our surroundings in order to know our place within them.