ARTIST STATEMENT

I use political and social issues—both historical and current—as undertones in my work. My attraction to art grows out of my concern for humanity and all of its man-made divisions because of art’s ability to skin the barriers created by these differences.

On a personal level, in my role as an artist in residence at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, I often see art acting as an agent of healing for the patients I work with. I love my job both for this reason and for the opportunity it gives me to explore all mediums freely, without hesitation, as children do. 

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A poem I know by a Persian poet named Saadi engaged me with the question of human rights.

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“Human beings are members of a whole, 

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain.”

 

When I read this poem in the context of immigration today, I am struck by the way human rights are being violated and denied. Our wars have created refugees we refuse to help and this is the irony I am referencing in this piece.