All my life, I have looked for peace. The first time I thought I was going to die, I was 5 years old. My Dad got in a car accident driving with me while intoxicated. I hit my head on the dashboard and there was blood everywhere.

As a child in a tumultuous and often scary home, the only times I felt peace were in art-making and learning about animals. Art has always been a place where I could control my environment and manifest safety.

As an adult, a lot of my present work is about creating perfect little worlds, full of happy animal families. They exist in a verdant atmosphere, full of abundance even while death is recognized via various bones and skulls. All terrariums are isolated, floating worlds in the sky, giving them a peaceful dream-like quality and indicating their severance from a harsh reality. 

I find myself thinking of death often, and I truly believe that the promise of death is what makes life meaningful and beautiful, not just for humans, but animal life as well. We exist together, inexorably linked in life on a planet headed towards destruction.

Often, my work features endangered species and serves not only as a child-like reclamation of safety, but also speaks to habitat loss and a disappearing world. The animals in my worlds are at peace, but the threat of scarcity and disappearance looms. I think it is impossible to separate the fate of our planet and endangered species from our own fate. To me, we are all living beings who deserve peace and safety.

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