artist statement:
I am a disabled, multidisciplinary artist living and practicing in San Francisco, California. I come from a family of Azorean Islanders who immigrated to America to do agricultural work in the fields of California, and Jewish immigrants fleeing conflict. I worked as a laborer, builder, and artist until 2019 when I suffered a disabling spinal fracture and spinal cord injury. This experience ignited new lines of inquiry in my artistic work.
Current directions in my art practice are focused on the tension between fragility and resilience. As a disabled artist, I am particularly interested in how we inhabit our bodies, the bodies relationship to the work of living, and how that work shapes us.
Sudden rupture of the status quo opens us to the possibility of reconstructing ourselves. Like breaking a spine, or surviving a debilitating illness, there is beauty in perseverance and the reimagining of how life is lived. In this sense, disability, fracture, disruption, and repair are fundamental to unveiling new perspectives.
The structures of modern human life require work. Who does this work? How does this work affect these bodies? How does this labor intervene with the world around us and within us? These questions drive the current focus of my practice.
My work has exhibited at San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA), County Cavan Museum of Art (Ireland), CounterPulse (San Francisco), Numi Gallery in Tehran, Iran, Shockboxx ,Los Angeles, Ca, and elsewhere. I am the recipient of 2022 The Carlos Villa Fellowship at San Francisco Art Institute. My written work has appeared in The Seattle Review, The Burnside Review, HUBBUB, The Portland Review, and Lily Poetry Review.