ABOUT ME & MY WORK

Childhood is a place of the past many of us long to venture back to. Everyone grows up; however, the culture and time one goes through in childhood are different. My work is inspired by the countless collection of photographs saved from my time growing up. My inspiration is not to evoke the era the pictures originated from but to evolve the photos. As such, while going through the archives of my life, my interest in the aesthetics of childhood and suburbia in the 2000s grew. To depict this inspiration, I alter and disrupt the picture to emphasize the aesthetics of the 2000s and suburbia through oil paint, three-dimensional elements, and fibers. Childhood photographs are just the beginning. With a desire to change the viewing experience, I include symbolism and iconography from my childhood to challenge and add to the idea of broken memories. The memories from one's childhood are often distorted, so the actual reality of what happened often disappears. There may be gaps in what is remembered, or a point in time may appear more blissful than the true reality. Purposely altering the colors in my work to reflect a pink and purple color palette is intended to give a sense of a child's mindset and perspective on the world around them. As my work explores the ideas of suburbia and americana through the color palette, recurring subjects, and significant events, I enjoy tapping into the concept of universal nostalgia. Doodles, school buses, and vibrant colors are a part of everyone's childhood, regardless of the period of time or experience. Discovery of specific things that I believed made my childhood exciting, and the idea of memories being distorted as time goes on only tells a piece of a larger story. As I look back at my personal memories, I hope you, the viewer, can be inspired to reminisce about your own childhood memories.