My practice examines the role of language in our construction of reality within the context of a capitalist and colonialist society. As an artist, I reimagine and redefine our relationship with Nature by producing technological systems that highlight absurdities arising within the constraints of the language of capitalism. The French organization of writers Oulipo, playwright Alfred Jarry, and Guy Debord’s description of the spectacle inform and inspire my examination of these constraints. Their inquiry into art and the artist within a Fascist society inspires my critique of language and the effects of our colonialist history on the formation of reality.
The illusion that we exist separate from Nature reinforces a society whose foundation is inequality and disconnection. Providing a plant with locomotion reveals a truth about our ignorance of the lifeform’s complexity through an anthropomorphic, perceivable motion. My process begins with extrapolating contemporary value systems, such as an economic classification of quality of life, to dissect the components that inform an agreed-upon fiction. My most recent work, Bee GDP, applies this economic value system to a colony of Apis mellifera, western honey bees. Entangled in capitalist language, climate change, and species survival, Bee GDP provokes dialogue about technology, humanness, and personal relationships with our dear friends, the honey bees.
Exhibitions
2023 Curious Objects, Ethereal Reflections, Portland Oregon
2017 Alumni Exhibition, Dorothy Uber Byran and Wilard Wankelman Galleries, Bowling Green, Ohio
2015 MFA Thesis Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
2014 Image of a Tree: Site-specific Installation, MacLean Center, Chicago, Illinois
2013 Basement Dwellers, Apartment Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
2012 illuminate, Dorothy Uber Byran and Wilard Wankelman Galleries, Bowling Green, Ohio
2012 Depth of Light: Site-specific Installation, Wolfe Center for the Arts, Bowling Green, Ohio
Education
2015 Master of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2013 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bowling Green State University
Studied under:
Lan Tuazon
Eduardo Kac
Heather Dewey-Hagborg
Simon Anderson
