Roots Disturb Concrete

White pine, english breakfast tea,
acrylic paint, angel vine, Touchdeisgner
6’ x 6’ x 7’
2025

There is an instinctual human need to romanticize, almost as a means of survival. We curate our memories to follow a linear narrative by embellishing them with things such as fate, lessons and hope. The mind can alter a memory (consciously or subconsciously) the same way time can alter an image, through new experiences and information. Within this process, information can feel lost to the sands of time, like details of a memory or the context of a photograph. This information doesn’t actually disappear at all but instead takes on an unrecognizable form, like looking at an old picture of a friend that went on to become a lover or remembering a conversation that you later discovered to be filled with lies. It’s hard for the brain to digest negative experiences, sometimes we’ll unknowingly discard a memory all together because it’s simply too much for the soul to bear. This process speaks to the saying that “ignorance is bliss” because living a life of not knowing is more freeing than the weight of the true lived experience. This is where the ability to romanticize becomes a life or death decision, can you create room for purpose within a traumatic experience?

Roots Disturb Concrete is an interactive installation that explores the human mind’s ability to romanticize as a means of survival. Utilizing camera continuity, viewers are confronted with live visuals of themselves as they peer into the structure. The visuals represent our memories while the distortions symbolize our ability to distort those memories as a way to cope with complex experiences.

Life Spout

Found Object
5.5” x 5.5”
2023

Life Spout is an allegorical found-objects sculpture that tells the story of a mother and her child who’s Polaroid is framed in the front of the piece. The story of their relationship takes place in the back of the sculpture where a cinematic scene of a crow (the child) dives from the seashell into a copper cup (the mother). This act depicts the birth of the child. In the bottom right corner of the piece sits a die with the number 7 pointing to the diving crow. The number 7 symbolizes the feeling of fullness and completeness which is the outcome many young parents seek as they wish to bring children into the world. The crow represents the child due to its symbolic connection to that of death, rebirth, self-reflection and loyalty which are the true lived experiences parents face when raising children.