bio

I grew up carrying the feeling that something was wrong with me. That feeling of wrongness, of being on the outside of something, has resonated through my bones for as long as I can remember. As I have aged, I have been able to put names to the reasons I felt like I didn’t fit into the spaces I was told I should: being a transsexual, lesbian atheist put me firmly outside of the Southern Baptist community I was raised into, and disability alienated me from many other spaces. It came as no surprise, then, when I identified with representations (fictional and otherwise) of otherness: monsters like Mary Shelley describes in Frankenstein, abused and aggressive shelter dogs, and Biblical outcasts like Eve and the devil. I’m drawn to things and beings that are a little (or, very) to the left of “normal.”

Alongside “monstrous” figures and scenes, I incorporate natural elements and figures into my work, such as deer, dogs, birds, and pine trees like the ones that formed a cradle around the town where I grew up. I find that translating my ideas through animals and other natural figures strengthens my connection to the world around me and therefore strengthens my art. My work revolves around figures such as these, which provide effigies through which I can express my experiences and ideas.