STATEMENT
Both my interdisciplinary studio and independent research practices are focused on Queer history and narrative, gender and sexuality, archives, and ecology. With these themes I create vignettes into constructed Queer worlds of past, present, and future; my research of Queer Art and the Queer history and legacy of Black Mountain College acting as the backbone and driving forces of my work. My impulse to create work that speaks to these thematic elements stems from a place of conservation and preservation - an impulse that is a radical act against the intentional erasure of Queer histories and art through censorship, assimilation, and fascism. Using primarily black and white film photography and collage, a large majority of my work utilizes self-portraiture as a means of deflecting and subverting the gaze through confrontation and Queer place-taking and making. Place, or the lack thereof is central to my work as a Queer person, being someone who has always occupied space in and out of “dominant” existence. The aim of my work is to challenge and resist hetero-assimilationist ideals and power structures, asserting a Queer dominance and separatism where we can all be liberated and free, aware of our collective and personal histories and power, and work collectively towards building the Queer world we have long deserved.