about

CV

Instagram: @ratsarenotgross

Statement & Bio:

I am both a conceptual artist and a scientist. Each of these practices offers a window into human behavior and the ways we construct ideas of place, identity, and belonging in relation to one another and to the natural world.

I was born in Hawaii, grew up in New Mexico, and spent the summers of my youth in Vermont. Moving among different landscapes and cultures helped me appreciate difference and connection, and notice the interplay among ecology, history, and memory. My work comes from a desire to understand the threads that bind life together and to question the systems that pull it apart.

I use sculpture, printmaking, and photography to explore the complex relationships among people, plants, more-than-human animals, and landscapes. I’m curious about how our perception of the natural world is shaped by our increasingly controlled, human-centered surroundings, and how notions of human dominance and our growing estrangement from it erode our ability and desire to empathize with our earthly kin. We shape our environments with extraordinary precision. We curate and control our spaces, cultivating comfort and ease while simultaneously destroying ecosystems and driving countless species to extinction.

My practice is an act of tenderness. My work is an invitation to see ourselves as members of a living, interdependent planet. It is an exercise in empathy and coexistence and a reflection on our current cultural practices. I imagine and hope for a future in which we show kindness, respect, and reverence towards our fellow living beings.

I hold a BFA in Studio Art and a PhD in Anthropology, and my work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States.