My favorite piece is "Rooted Decay", a mixed-media sculpture that reflects the complex relationship between growth and death/impermanence. The piece consists of a plaster mold of my face, held up by a mold of my hand with broken fingers. The hollowed-out face serves as a planter, filled with soil, cacti, and mushrooms I grew myself. I’ve watercolored and added paper to texture the surface and portray a decaying/bruised skin texture, symbolizing the body's fragility. Rooted Decay explores the idea that decay is not something to be feared but an essential part of the cycle of life. The broken fingers and decaying skin reflect loss, but the plants inside the mold represent resilience and the potential for new life to grow from decay. The piece is a personal meditation on how I am constantly changing, evolving, and rooted in both the past and present. It’s a reminder that even in moments of decay, there’s room for new growth and transformation. This work embodies my desire to push boundaries and explore deep themes through my art. I strive to create pieces that reflect not only my journey but also universal experiences, how we connect to life, loss, and growth.

Growing up on the south side of Chicago, I've always been drawn to the city’s unique architecture. The mix of modern and historical buildings, and how light plays across them has always been entrancing to me. Each structure evokes emotions, a solid timeless building, like the Carbon and Carbide building, might represent stability while a changing environment, like the expanding neighborhoods, symbolizes impermanence and growth. I’m also deeply inspired by how people move through the city and interact with each other. I observe the small moments. Quiet exchanges and intimate interactions between me and the world around me reflect the complexity of human relationships. These moments hold little stories of their own, which I try to capture in my art. For me, the ordinary moments in daily life are often the most meaningful. A simple scene, like a person walking down a quiet street, or a pigeon taking a nap on the sidewalk can evoke a personal reflection. These everyday details connect to my own experiences, whether they’re about love, loss, or belonging. In capturing the beauty and emotion in everyday moments, I try to explore personal connections and the relationships that shape us.

I am a female artist born and raised on the south side of Chicago, IL, where public art is anything but lacking. Since the day I was born, I've been exposed to the murals that lit up and saturated the south side neighborhoods of Chicago and they sparked in me an infatuation with visual arts. I applied to many visual art schools with not a lot of hope in my heart, and a few months later I received an acceptance letter from my top choice School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then, I completed my freshman year exploring places in the city where I never thought I'd find art and creating things in ways I never thought of. During my first semester I created a piece titled "Connection to my Mind," made from melted soap and fabric I found in a recycling bin to showcase my love for music through art. The piece was an absolute hit during my critique and my professors pushed for me to try out sculpture. Exploring the idea of art in places you wouldn't look and creating with ordinary objects like soap or ripped fabric has been what's peaked my curiosity the most in college, and I've loved seeing the look on people's faces when I told them I made a sculpture out of soap, and even more, the look on their faces when I show them the sculpture. What I want to do after college is still fuzzy to me right now, and there's a lot of different things I would like to do. However, my non-negotiable for my future is passing on the idea of looking to create with everyday objects to the next generation of artists. I want to tap into the curiosity of the next generation and show them that art isn't just a painting or sketch on the page, but that art is all around us from the paper we write on to the bar of soap from the drugstore.

I am a female artist born and raised on the south side of Chicago, IL, where public art is anything but lacking. Since the day I was born, I've been exposed to the murals that lit up and saturated the south side neighborhoods of Chicago and they sparked in me an infatuation with visual arts. When I began drawing and painting, I was never encouraged that it would be something I could pursue in college until my junior year of high school when my art teacher encouraged me to enter my print "Help Yourself" into the School of the Art Institute's All City Visual Art Exhibition. To my surprise I got in, with a piece of art that was so beloved and personal in the way that it demonstrated my struggle with body image and mental health. After such a positive experience at this exhibition I became even more infatuated with the arts and began compiling a portfolio so that I could apply to art schools around the country. I applied to many with not a lot of hope in my heart, and a few months later I received an acceptance letter from my top choice School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since then, I completed my freshman year exploring places in the city where I never thought I'd find art and creating things in ways I never thought of. During my first semester I created a piece titled "Connection to my Mind," made from melted soap and fabric I found in a recycling bin to showcase my love for music. Exploring the idea of art in places you wouldn't look and creating with ordinary objects like soap or ripped fabric has been what's peaked my curiosity the most in college, and I've loved seeing the look on people's faces when I told them I made a sculpture out of soap and even more the look on their faces when I show them the sculpture. What I want to do after college is still fuzzy to me right now, and there's a lot of different things I would like to do. The main thing I do have planned for my future is passing on the idea of looking to create with everyday objects to the next generation of artists. I want to tap into the curiosity of the next generation, and show them that art isn't just a painting, but that it's all around us from the paper we write on to the bar of soap from the drugstore.