ABOUT MEBody Artist, Photographer & Filmmaker
My Grandmutter, my dad (Baba) and many significant loves in my life are artists. From a young age creation has been central to who I am, who I’m becoming. Every summer Baba lays out all his watercolors on the kitchen table and paints from past photos I’ve taken. I love being with him when he paints. He’s always told me that “A good painting breathes,” meaning not everything should be colored in. And now, this is how I paint people. I don’t want to engulf a person in paint, I want to accent their body. Through body art, photography, and film work I try to reflect our many identities and movements. I paint on skin because it's art with a heartbeat. It’s really important to showcase the power and beauty of people who have been historically misrepresented in art. To show black and brown, queer, trans, female-identifying folks in all their varying abilities and rawness, because they belong in any landscape and are existing in many ways.
There is a growing violence against the planet, Native lands and water. Reconnecting bodies to the Earth is resisting this violence. My art serves as a tribute to the fragility and resilience of humanity in relation to the natural world. Love and gratitude to all those guiding me: Grandmutter, Baba, Mama, Louis Alemayehu, Tom & Laura LaBlanc, Sharon Day, Eryn Wise, Ira & Nadine Baumgarten and many more. |