Artist Statement

I have always been interested in the membrane between the tangible and intangible, the place where dreams become plans, where consciousness fills the body and looks outward. This is a sort of magic humans can do: We create objects, rituals and stories that tie us to this plane of existence and become remnants of our souls when our bodies leave the world. I use this contextual yearning to create a visual narrative with fabric, thread, and color. 

As someone interested in history and legacy, I use quilting as a foundation to ask questions about history and current events: who are we when we silo ourselves into our own identities? How can we get closer to the truth? How can we honor the past while using it to create new futures? 

I use research, interviews, and community workshops to study how we respond to hardship and trauma, what guides us to create Earthly legacies, and how symbolism gains power through significance we assign. 

As a metastatic breast cancer patient, I use my work to advocate for understanding and support for young cancer patients at every stage; more young people are being diagnosed with cancer every year, and we can’t afford to ignore this problem. I have spoken with dozens of cancer patients and survivors about re-entering the world and made quilts that represent the multitude of our experiences–functional objects that tell stories. 

I have illustrated impermanence with ephemeral wildflower mini-quilts that create a sense of place as they dry out and become husks of themselves; embroidered icons that let the viewer assign their own meaning and story; and quilted letters that invite the viewer to offer their own perspectives (“is this happening to anyone else?”). 

Through this, I’m looking for true meaning–not the kind you can define in words, but the kind you can feel in your body, the kind that ties you to a place or topic in a way that is permanent and everlasting, even as we evolve and decay.