Artist Statement:

Following evidence of our many connections to undomesticated plants and animals, I create work that makes it difficult to ignore our daily encounters with the more-than-human world. My goal is to deepen our understanding of how and why these species share our built environment. This awareness invites us to reconsider how we live, what we eat, and how we manage the managed and unmanaged green spaces around us.

Many people have little access to large, protected natural areas because of where they live, their financial resources, or other sociocultural factors. This lack of access can make it challenging to spark interest in positive environmental action from people who are conditioned to see natural areas as distant or other. This leads to the question, how do we garner a higher degree of attention, concern, and participation toward ecologically positive action from people who might not identify as environmentalist or eco-conscious?

With these conditions in mind, I create interdisciplinary, research-based art projects investigating the influence of humans on other species and our impact on the places we live and work. I confront deep-seated assumptions by drawing attention to the contrast between culturally generated understandings of the natural world and everyday experiences of unmanaged plants and animals. My work provides opportunities for people to re-engage their sense of wonder by deepening connections with other species and learning about often unknown natural histories. These experiences encourage participation in the cultivation of better shared spaces for all of us.