Gifts from the Dark

Exhibition Statement

I am a time traveler. As a trauma-focused therapist, an artist, and a person on their own path to healing, I navigate the ways that memory and trauma, like art, are non-linear; a space where time doesn’t exist. 

In Gifts from the Dark, I move into the past, weaving in and out of memories, exploring how my mother’s timeline converges with my own, and inviting our inner children into the present.  I bring gifts from the present—joy, compassion, presence, wisdom, and encouragement —into the darkness. I also retrieve gifts from the past, creating something new and transformed. 

 Through this body of work, I reconnect with my roots, reclaim my identity, and heal ancestral timelines. I face the devastation of losing so much of my culture, language, and family. I reckon with the deep connection I feel to my ancestral ties, as if I lived a parallel life in this other land, while also living with the reality that this never happened.

 Through my intuitive approach with collage, I deconstruct what was, construct what is needed, and create something beautifully reconfigured in the present. Collage allows me the freedom to move aspects around the page, revisit unfinished moments, and create new configurations. It is a puzzle where there is no right way to place the pieces. Unlike a standard puzzle, I can position them in an imperfect way, creating something with what I have rather than focusing on what is missing.