An immersive installation with two floor-to-ceiling murals and gauze panels hanging from the ceiling, with overhead projections of leaves and organic materials floating in water. The installation puts the subject inside an abstract organic landscape, evoking the darkness and beauty of swamp ecosystems and scenery.

Exhibition held in the White Box Gallery at Connecticut College, December 2019

“To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness


My experimentation with paint, layers, and darkness adopts the idea that a break from technology is one way of ‘going dark’ and that sanctuary is firmly off-grid. I’m working on altering my perspective on darkness and fear of the unknown, primarily within natural environments. Inspired by my personal encounters with dark waters, forests, and my bedroom at night, my work helps me combat my own fear of what I’m unable to see or predict.

In my 2d and 3d work, darkness and depth represents the unknown and the curiosity that comes with it. Really it’s just the spaces that make me feel as though anything can exist around, below, or within me. When I swim in dark water I need to know what else is swimming with me. I try to expresses the darkness and fear that I’ve encountered in my work, while also channeling a part of me that has overcome fears of darkness and past traumas by embracing them as a step towards liberation.

I once swam in a lake at night and opened my eyes only to see a sparkling and bright bioluminescent green hue wrapping itself around my face and hands. Was I hallucinating then? Upon revisiting past experiences and encounters with my biggest fears, I started a series of work that aims to develop a new personal approach to darkness and the unknown in order to keep me from searching for light. Looking to the words of Ursula K. Le Guin for philosophical guidance, these multi-dimensional works help me find peace in darkness and mystery, and allow me to work towards conquering an overbearing fear in my life, which could mean learning how to accept it.