Statement

Using historically and politically informed research, my work seeks to investigate the nature of perception of images and history, and to explore the ways in which information is understood through different means of mediation.  Weaving in personal perspective and poetic elements, I seek to deconstruct perception by exploring surface, and the fidelity of different means of transmission of image, text and appearance.

My most recent work confronts themes of memory and how information is collectively and personally remembered via images.  As technology stores more and more of our range of perception, we begin to use terms in which machines store information to refer to our own perception of the past.  I wanted to use this work to examine the role of digital surveillance, our sense of political and personal violence, and ideology and its personal effects on our sense of self.

Although a digital image is in some ways an exact reproduction of a certain moment or reality, it does not reflect the experience that occurred in the actual moment that was reproduced.  These pieces are various explorations of this medium, and the idea of the imperceptibility of a memory or an event. I have begun to examine the role of my own subjectivity and the struggle to relate certain experiences of individual trauma, and shared trauma experienced via imagery and writing.  Examining the medium and viewer’s associations with it as well as how this affects recollection have become key questions.  I’m interested in the way information is revealed and withheld, altered, and informed.

Navigating the distance between oneself and events--not only collective events that can be understood as historical, but individual seeing and remembrance--is a concept important to the evolution of my connection to others and interacting with the world as a global citizen. With the constant incursion of information relating to violence, and separately violence itself, deconstructing my vision and understanding of images has become a vital thread in my work.

 
Education
2019    Virginia Commonwealth University, MFA Painting and Printmaking

2016    School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA Emphasis in Writing

Selected Exhibitions & Readings
2021    Palpable Tensions, Featuring Work by the Milwaukee Queer Artist Collective,
             Woodland Pattern Book Center, Milwaukee, WI
2019    Phone Home, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
             Warning: [Re]appropriated Imagery, Ideology and Public Images, Master of Fine Arts    
             Thesis Exhibition, Anderson Gallery , Richmond VA
             New Impressions: A Showcase of Contemporary Printmaking, Sechrest Gallery, Highpoint University, High Point, NC
             Parallel Play, FAB Gallery, Richmond VA
2018    I Had a Flashback of Something That Never Existed, The John Marshall, Richmond VA
             A Strong Line, Gallery VCU, Doha, Qatar
2017    L'Heauxspitalitea, FAB Gallery, Richmond VA
             Movable Feast Reading Series, Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA
2016    Compressing Space, 917 Cornelia Ave, Chicago IL
             Bachelor of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago IL
             Bachelor of Fine Arts Emphasis in Writing Thesis Reading, Leroy Neiman Center, Chicago IL
2013    Until, Defibrillator, Chicago IL
             Artbash, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
2011    Superevening: Flashes New Work, MacLean Center Ballroom, Chicago IL

Publications
2021    Cream City Review, Spring 2021 Featured Artist

Talks/Lectures
2019    [Re]appropriated Imagery, Ideology and Public Images, MFA lecture, VCU School of Art
2018    I had a Flashback of Something That Never Existed, Gallery Talk the John Marshall
2016    Gallery Talk, Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago

Permanent Collections
Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection at SAIC

Awards
2021    United States Artist Relief Grant 2021
2017-2019    Graduate Teaching Fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University
2014    Pritzker Family Foundation Award
2012    Distinguished Merit Scholarship at SAIC

Teaching
2017-2019    Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA
                        Instructor, School of Arts

2015-2016    School of the Art Institute of Chicago
                        Teaching Assistant, Contemporary Practices
Technical and Administrative
2021-2022    School of the Art Institute of Chicago
                        Computer Resources Associate
2012-2016    SAIC Resource Technician
2014-2015    AV Chicago
                        Audio Visual Assistant
Professional Service
2021               Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival
                        Screener
2012-2016    F Newsmagazine at SAIC
                        Staff Writer
2012-2013    East Lansing Underground Film Festival
                        Office Manager, Film Selection Committee