My work explores the invisible and subtle ways violence and neglect show up in our most intimate relationships. It is important to me that the works be visually beautiful, as a invitation for the viewer to experience something that seems benign but upon further inspection is full of subtle danger and pain.
The themes I return to are often involving belonging and identity. With my work as a trauma therapist, specializing in early developmental trauma, and being an adoptee who still suffers from my own arrested development, I am familiar with the shame and struggles that go along with being a human who is a child lost in an adult body. I have always been grateful to art for being an incredibly helpful medium to learn more about myself.
While exploring these themes, I reference Korean pottery, Minhwa folk painting, western landscapes, botanical symbolism and a personal iconography. Porcelain works are painted with cobalt oxide in the greenware stage and fired to cone 6 without glaze. Pieces made in red stoneware are painted with cobalt over a white glaze, similar to a majolica technique. Each of these processes I have played with, that are close enough to traditional blue and white pottery, mimic my imposter syndrome of being born bi-racial and not fitting in with either culture. My story is one of adaptation and perseverance. I look forward to watching my work evolve and grow as I identify the essential pieces of my humanity I long to step into more fully.