American Boy (2021)
American Boy is a playground. Set within a child’s bedroom, the work invites viewers to interact with everyday objects and uncover clues about the protagonist and his ongoing attempt to become American. Through exploration, the space reveals fragments of cultural learning, confusion, and adaptation. Objects throughout the room carry hidden narratives, reflecting the awkward, uneven process of assimilation and the gradual reshaping of identity.

playground (2021)
playground is a private space where the protagonist copes with immigration and the formation of a new cultural identity. On the desk, inside drawers, and across the walls, small pieces of ephemera are left behind for viewers to discover. Each object points to a different strategy for anchoring identity, protection, or belonging.

Tutorails with Max! (2021)
Intentionally misspelled, Tutorails with Max! is a series of video tutorials that attempt to teach viewers how to become American. Each video is an earnest and absurd effort at assimilation through instruction and repetition. Titles include be AMERICAN with Max! and magic trickks so kids liek you with Max! Together, the videos highlight both the desire to fit in and the exhaustion of constantly trying to learn the “right” way to belong.

the thing behind me (2021)
Both literally and figuratively, the thing behind me is a door separating the bedroom from the outside world. Locked and barricaded with laundry, the door blocks physical access while allowing sound to pass through. The external world remains present but unreachable, standing in contrast to the playful, self-contained space of playground across from it.

The work separation anxiety consists of a Ukrainian plate holding warm pirozhki—a popular food from my country of birth—placed atop a traditional rushnyk (ritual cloth). The installation also includes a large glass jar of sour cream, a fragmented wooden map of Ukraine, and video documentation capturing the process of making the pirozhki. Both the rushnyk and the plate are ornamented with complex geometric and nature-inspired iconography, referencing Ukrainian domesticity and the hearth of the home. The golden color and aroma of the pirozhki may invite participants to reach out and taste one, while the white sour cream sits idle, waiting to be added to the prepared meal. Above the installation, the fragmented map and projected imagery loom over the presentation, emphasizing a tension between nourishment and information. The arrangement may read as a cultural gathering or an altar, offering multiple points of interpretation.

The piece emerges from my shape-shifting Ukrainian identity and represents an attempt to identify and communicate experiences and traumas I have muted for many years. As an immigrant, my original identity has been altered through time—either through cultural rejection or voluntary dissolution in pursuit of conformity. By forming symbolic connections to personal pain, I aim to share these experiences in a way that invites empathy from the participant. The work seeks to create moments of connection around trauma, cultural dissonance, and the feeling of existing in an unresolved state of identity.

This work is emblematic of my ongoing process of reconciling my past and present selves. It is offered as a point of connection for others navigating similar experiences of displacement, cultural limbo, and inherited pain. Through shared symbols of food, ritual, and fragmentation, the installation opens space for conversations around personal anxieties, trauma, and healing, fostering understanding and empathy across lived experiences.

three noisemakers investigates the relationship between play and sound. Three nonsensical, constructivist-like devices are presented with unclear functions—systems that can only be understood through experimentation. Through tactile engagement, participants push buttons, incorporate common objects, and respond in real time to the acoustic phenomena before them. The devices scream, burst, and behave unpredictably, creating an ongoing loop of play between humans and machines. Each becomes necessary to complete the circuit of interaction.

shout is an interactive installation that explores the relationship between sound and light. Fifteen lightbulbs hang twenty feet above the ground, activating in sequence in response to sound captured through a single microphone. Participants control the work entirely through their voices, turning the lights on and off by singing, making noise, or shouting to produce a visual response.

The installation centers on human curiosity through experimentation and play. There is no “correct” way to interact with the piece—only responses that emerge naturally. By using electronics to physically link two distinct senses, shout invites personal vulnerability. Many instinctively resist speaking into an amplified microphone, but by making it the sole point of interaction, participants must confront and move through that hesitation in order for the work to function.

Each participant becomes a necessary component of the installation. Without their presence, there is no interaction, no play, and no light.

This installation was premiered at Maker Faire Milwaukee 2017.

Digital December is a self-initiated coding challenge in which I created a new piece of digital artwork every day throughout the month of December. The project was designed to keep my coding practice active while pushing me to work quickly, experiment freely, and let go of preciousness. By treating each piece as temporary rather than refined, the focus shifted toward process, play, and problem-solving rather than polish. Nearly all of the images were generated through code using Processing (C/C++).

Parasonic is an interactive sculpture that inverts the function of headphones. Resembling an umbrella, the parasol is fitted with contact microphones, an amplifier, and a headphone jack. By plugging in their own headphones, the listener becomes enveloped in a sonic cocoon, experiencing the sounds of the environment as they move through the rain.

The piece addresses the solipsistic nature of contemporary technology—devices designed to isolate and block out the external world through sensory overload. Parasonic instead reverses this logic, transforming headphones into hypersensitive antennae. Rather than serving as a barrier, they become a conduit, amplifying the surrounding environment and encouraging reconnection and a sense of oneness with the outside.