My point of view as an artist has been largely shaped by my life and experiences as a trans person. My relationship with my body has always been turbulent and uncomfortable. I’ve come to view it as an entity separate from myself.

The lives of most trans people are affected greatly by gender dysphoria, the physical or psychological distress a person goes through caused by the gender assigned to them at birth. Dysphoria is an experience I cannot universally define because it varies so wildly from person to person. For me, it is closely tied to my body and the literal, physical, & visceral aspects of my existence.

While my work is heavily related to the transgender experience, I also address the broader theme of a person’s relationship with their body and, in turn, the body’s relationship to their identity. I explore the idea of the body as a vessel, a tool, or a source of identity.

Ceramics is an important medium for me because it’s very physical. Creating a body out of clay with my own hands can be cathartic when dealing with issues with my own body. I dissect the self and create beings, creatures, and entities from my emotions, experiences, and facets of my identity.

I also use symbolic imagery to develop a visual language to represent different feelings and parts of my emotional inner workings. I explore this idea through ceramics, as well as illustration and printmaking.

My motivation to create comes from the desire to inform and to understand. I want to share my experience with others to help them understand the transgender struggle to simply live in our own bodies. I process these feelings and experiences for myself by converting them into tangible forms that can be seen and understood by myself and others. As my identity evolves, so will my art as it continues to serve as a tool for introspection and self-discovery.