About

Satement

Within the open, ritual-like manner of my practice —in which repetition and accumulation guide the work towards an unplanned-for, uncertain result —I materialize the invisible into new symbolic beings.

My work addresses endless transformation cycles in the human body and beauty standards, presented in relation to nature and mystical beings. And these new entities deploy themselves through various mediums.

Initially through collage I became expert in extracting specimens, limbs, organs, and other living things (in whole or in part) —placing botanical books, obsolete medical specs, and biology encyclopedia under my scalpel in order to reassemble the pieces as improbable, natural sets. Creating new strangeness and beauty. 

Tempering disproportion and surrealism with meticulous découpage and thematic, geometric coherence, the compositions contrast on several levels: they seem fragile, though their presence is imposing; they are delicate, refined, and yet shameless, even disturbing. 

The compositions raise questions —about the unexpected relationships in nature, growth, evolution, and transformation. Although viewers are quick to admire and accept them, these contradictory forces give each work a disarming but reassuring familiarity, just like (human) nature.

Taking cues from these recent, collage-based explorations, my new sculptural works use artificial nails to fashion scaled, serpentine structures. Their seamless, colourful spirals suggest transformative lifeforms and a transcendent, but also politically-engaged, aesthetic.

The fundamental building block of the fake nail revealed itself as the perfect iterative unit in this protocol-based process. As in my previous work, new bodies emerge using the smaller parts of other bodies - fashioned through the spiritual and trans-like state I enter into. 

With complete trust that the material will come into full, whole life when the parts are pieced together, a new magic emerges through the three-dimensionality of these sleek, sinuous, surreally natural life forms - an intangible force that reflects the complex, mysterious dualities of existence: matter and spirit, stasis and dynamism, fragility and strength, the seen and the unseen. 

My hope is that the work ushers viewers into a clearer relation to this fullness.

Enigmatic, snake-like, without beginning or end, these sculptures are far from merely eye-pleasing. In material form, they represent the magical power and infinite potential of both our lives and our multiple realities. 

Beyond self-expression and self-care, the nails expose a deceptively powerful tool of survival since, in many cultures, women get their nails done to appear more threatening and avoid assault. Disguised by their seemingly shallow or eccentric beauty, the nails are too often misunderstood as futile feminine decoration when, in addition, it’s a protective aspect used to display social status. 

Nail art has also become a massive global industry, one that supports multiple oppressed and marginalized women for whom a successful, independent business hinges on this mainstream trend.

While beauty standards can be oppressive and discriminatory, the human nail is a protective, useful physiological adaptation. To layer on a personally-resonant, glossy burst of colour, for instance, is to add significance: strength and resilience are combined with the beauty and soul force that fuels any fight for survival.