My work is informed by the lived experience of chronic illness. The forms and processes in my sculptures reimagine the grotesque body as a site of joy and whimsy. They formally delight in the messiness of sickness, and explore digestion as a metaphor for how the body translates its environment.

I’m interested in what happens when one is confronted with a body that doesn’t conform to our commonly held definitions. “Body” is not limited to physical corporeality and can also refer to verbal bodies or bodies of knowledge or ideology—all have weight, form, and accepted anatomies. I’m interested in the potential within indeterminate bodies.

For years, my practice has focused on growth at a cellular level and the connectedness of life and death in the natural world. I have found so much complexity and beauty in the forms that result from natural growth and have recently begun to see similar patterns in less natural forms. I have become fascinated by the relationships between the organic and the man-made. Even in a cityscape we see cycles. Construction, completion, and decay are the life cycle of our built environments. Through the erasure and redrawing of lines in my work, I try to show the depth of the surroundings we

My paintings on black velvet have become a decades-long anthropological study of community and environment. Using the kitsch-laden material of black velvet and working-class characters from my youth as my subject, I create theatrical vignettes and frozen moments from an ongoing narrative. My goal is to capture the sincerity, dignity, and honesty of the world I grew up in.

As an artist, I experience the world around me with a keen observational eye. What has distinguished me for over fortyfive years from other artists in fiber is my choice to repurpose twentieth-century industrial materials such as tapes or films. I find order in this fodder and create beauty from the residue of our culture by transforming the materials into woven, stitched, or interlaced webs. From my studio practice, a new form of textile art has emerged. My sources include textiles structures, abstraction, and computer elements. In addition, politics, the military, social

We embraced, we laughed, we ate. Your body no longer exists. I often wonder where you are. Have you found paradise? Are you amongst the clouds? Are you with the ghosts that my great-grandmother used to tell me about? They say that humans exist in body, spirit, and mind. Perhaps your little notes still contain your consciousness. Maybe, whenever I quote you, you breathe again. How much of you did I capture in that portrait from many years ago? You are not that painting. But like you, paint functions in multiple states. The material can be cast, poured, stained, or even airbrushed. The medium’s

My work currently focuses on a series of paintings and sculptures circling around materiality, form, and spirituality. They referentially pertain to bodies through their object nature, significance, and the manipulation of every material used. The painted objects can resemble the construction of the human body, human skin, and in certain cases, parts of the human figure. The symbolism of the colors is completely dependent on my relationship with Santería and spiritual animism. This causes the work to become more personal and emotional. This is revealed through a handwritten

My work explores issues of migration and displacement through the history of decorative art and religious iconography. Using mixed media and collage, I reappropriate imagery that references maps, symbols, patterns, and language to create embellished images that indulge in and deconstruct colonial art. I often shy away from rectangular edges, instead using fabric patchworks and constructions as alternative painting surfaces. These techniques allow me to use painting as a form of installation, where intricate and layered compositions are not just images, but places in themselves.

My work is a celebration of the beauty and grace that I see in the female form. My intent is for the viewer to slow down and find their connection to the portraits before them. Often the reflective surfaces of the work invite the viewer to see themselves in the silhouettes. As a woman of color, I am drawn to images of women that look like me. I see and feel the poise and energy we exhibit in the world, which is so often commodified in popular media. In response to this, I offer counter-symbols of women as figures personifying grace and strength.

Inspired by magical realism, the Decadent movement, and surrealism, my paintings range in subject from the onceglorious but now dilapidated buildings of Baltimore to imagery that explores the complexity of Nagasaki, Japan. I also make figurative work that investigates ideas of transformation, identity, subversive behavior, and the individual’s place in society.