Orange Quince - Herdade da Marmeleira, Portugal Painting

Raised in the desert of the American Southwest in a family of geologists, I learned an appreciation for overlooked details in the landscape from a young age. I spent my days drawing maps of places that didn’t exist, charting their trade routes and political borders, and diagramming the life cycles of these kingdoms’ fictional plants and animals. As I grew older, I was drawn by the same beacon: the ability to create worlds. Painting allows me to lay out the intricacies of environmental and human interaction that I observe around me, in my own language. Visitors to my elementary school would often comment on the mysterious presence of a miniature civilization hidden on the playground: shelves made of stones in the forks of tree branches, displaying dried berries; tiny replicas of thatch-roof cottages; secret underground bunkers with roofs of sticks and leaves that would unexpectedly collapse underfoot. This impulse led me to a full scholarship to Yale, where I was able to travel to Mongolia, Jerusalem, France, Barbados, Japan, Romania, Iceland, and finally Berlin in pursuit of artistic projects. Upon graduating in 2016, I was recognized as the most outstanding visual artist in my graduating class. I currently work as a freelance painter and illustrator, and curate media projects for organizations including Shared Studios and Fusion Festival. My interests in travel, politics, nature, and history drive me to explore the systems that power development and conflict, and will continue to inspire me to build worlds that surprise even me by taking on lives of their own. I hope that my work allows people to see something more profound or imaginative in everyday life, and apply that way of thinking to their own lives. I always work from life, taking my sketchbook outside. I believe that the sights and sounds of my environment will find their way into my work and create a richer end product. I love to create order from the chaos of color and light around me, pulling out the human and natural details that make a scene feel alive. This enhanced representation of the world can create beauty, but can also reflect political stories and systems, touching on serious issues in society. I'm currently a member of the art and journalism collective Angles (anglesmedia.org) , which focuses on telling the stories of different communities in Berlin.