A gallery of my most current work, from 2022-present.
A personal piece expressing my struggles with severe mental illness while living in the city of Philadelphia.
A mixed-media piece about my struggle with the treatments for my schizoaffective disorder. I am expressing the battle between the freedom I have gained through recovery and the reality that I must depend on this taxing medication for the rest of my life. This juxtaposition highlights the sadness of what I’ve lost to this illness, and the excitement of what I’ve gained through healing. The plant elements growing from the mechanical pieces bring it into a nature work, because throughout my illness nature has been a symbol of healing.
Between freedom and dependence, it became both. Acceptance of one’s situation is its own form of freedom.
A mixed-media piece I created about my conflict with antipsychotics. Acrylic paint, wax crayon, found objects and papers, and gemstones on canvas.
"To be honest, recently I haven't been doing well. Without getting into it too much I switched my antipsychotic medication and it's not going so well. This painting is for an upcoming exhibit. I really, really struggled working on it. The second picture is as far as I got with the paint, it's sad and stale. I was thinking too hard and it was showing. I had a talk with my therapist recently, she said, "why don't you just use this piece as an expression of what you're feeling right now? Don't worry about it being perfect or exactly what you imagined, just enjoy it." And it really opened my eyes. I followed my instincts and my heart and just created for the sake of creating. And it made me recognize that art really is my medicine. I was closer to feeling like myself than I had been in weeks. Art really is healing. And I need it to survive. I still have some touch ups to do, but I'm very proud of this one. It shows joy that I didn't know I had in me, but felt so strongly while making this piece. And I love the childlike aspect of it, the gems and flowers and crayons used. I felt that childlike wonder and freedom of just creating with no expectations. I really wanted to portray pure joy and freedom."
My work is currently moving in a different direction than it has been throughout my whole painting career. The subject of “Morning Coffee” is myself, from a photo I took while in a busy coffee shop. People were constantly moving in and out, and there were little scenes from other’s lives playing out in front of me. The headphones I’m wearing in the painting are unfinished, with the underpainting showing through. Life is constantly going, starting and stopping and starting again, the scenes I saw that morning were all unfinished. Just glimpses to me, as it’s impossible to see everyone’s story ending. The unfinished headphones represent that my story isn’t finished either, personally and artistically. I chose the headphones to show this because my headphones are constantly changing sounds and are always with me wherever I go.