The act of producing a piece of "art" hasn't always been a tool or talent that I have appreciated. Up until recent years, I had used the creative process mindlessly, incorrectly, and simply. Throughout times of my instability and self-deprecation, my sense of awareness was lacking. Throughout this struggle, I never knew that my personal progress was halted by the sheer miscommunications of my self. Slowly I began to long for a positive change in my life. I looked for a sense of communication that could be conveyed without verbal explanation, while accepting the possibilities of being misunderstood. I wanted to somehow evoke relation through creation. I realized the feelings of vulnerability shouldn't be denied because it is the closest my mind has gotten to its actual self. Through my use of iconography and repetitive content, I am now able to subliminally relay certain tragedies that have occurred in my life. This realization of utilizing the creative process as an emotional outlet has allowed me to positively flourish on a personal level. As a result, I strive to portray my feelings in order to provoke personal vulnerabilities of the viewer, which they might otherwise ignore.

There’s always been this underlying affinity regarding a personal interest of visually analyzing hands. This affinity has lead to the curiosity of identifying the subconscious meaning of a person’s state of mind projected by simple gestures and positions. The way they fiddle, stroke, clasp, clench and lay their hands gently over another as opposed to focusing on a person’s emotions and thoughts through words. Previously, this concept has been portrayed by ‘stills’ of such telling moments. As a result, the focus of Phalangeal Mindscapes is an attempt to move much deeper into the wonders of hands. In this series, each piece explores different ways to break the mold of a hand’s individual use and appearance in attempt to highlight the environmental aspects of their shape. These works extend the formal characteristics of hands and their use through components of light, scale and perspective in order to submerge the viewer into a different world. With visual elements of contrasting color values and magnified imagery, the scale manipulates and expands the hands into environments of abstract form. These environments subjectively become entrances to cavernous areas of stalactites, mountains or even representations of texturized materials like tree bark, leather and plastic.

'Five Stages' is a series of personal sketchbook entries, drawn during the last month of my family members' journey through hardship and illness.