As a person who was raised in the aftermath of childhood parent death, my art practice serves as an expression of grief for both the dysfunctional, formative experiences of my early life as well as the fleeting present moment as I experience it. I use this grief to explore themes such as familial bonds and breaks, death, maternal love, friendship, my budding adulthood, and new-found independence. Much of my work often derives from photos and videos taken throughout my life woven together in a fabricated place and time, where an unimpeded expression of emotion lives and breathes. Throughout the intentionally busy composition, I utilize various motifs regarding color, animals (tigers, jellyfish, my pets), and significant symbolic objects (Matilda the Lamp, the pink couch, windows, playing cards, sculptures, plants) in order to compose a specific feeling: fascination, melancholy, grief. Another such example is my inclusion of rib cages, alluding to rib fractures my mother experienced during cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the minutes before her death. Each element is a key to unlock an additional element within my practice.