Artist Statement
My painting process is an active reflection of my self-perception, inner consciousness, and identity as a human. I contend with the imbalanced perceptions of the self through the lenses of biology, race, and philosophy to examine how I am seen as a product of my education and social culture. Through my affinity with specific, referential imagery, I grapple with external influences from art and academic histories. My art utilizes the self-portrait and the fish with arms as symbols of mental states based in the biological body. Another theme is agency within the self-portrait to reclaim autonomy of the narrative, as the person being depicted. The subjects are set in my mind’s eye, resulting in murky, dramatic atmospheres. I continue to develop different motifs to represent me which disturbs the presentation of my humanness.