Artist Statement

Although my art has been through countless evolutions and reinventions, one thing remains the same, it’s telling you a story. I’ve been collecting, inventing, and sharing stories all of my life; it’s the root of everything I have ever created.  With each interaction I am told a story and I have to share it and play with it and create from it. I do this because I am a deeply nostalgic person and I am enchanted by each person I meet. My goal is to let their story be told and to document the part of their lives they let me share, no matter how small. The nostalgic elements of my practice had led me to work largely in watercolors that let me play with soft colors and light memories, but the documentative aspects of my creation process often led me down the rabbit hole of analog film photography. I want to blend these aspects and create a cohesive body of work, one that ultimately will result in my own solo show before I graduate. Through a lot of experimentation and a recent introduction to ink wash painting and the ‘배접’ (framing technique used in korean traditional ink-wash painting)  process I would like to explore the bounds of the medium as it appeals to the dreaminess of watercolor with how it bleeds across a page, while also keeping the more historic documentation feeling found in photography and ancient ink painting. I want my photography practice to influence my painting one through more impactful compositions and my painting to influence what I want to capture in my photography and watch how I can play with these mediums.