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Who am I?

I'm me; art student, aspiring human being. I create and work and this helps me to function in a society.

Who is my audience?

Anyone with emotions, because I believe that's what any form of art is - emotion put into a certain medium. That's what makes art so controversial and so sensitive; emotions are being criticized, judged, accepted. I've heard various instructors at MIAD speak about how a critique is nothing personal -- "we're just judging your artwork, not you as a person." Well me, as a person, not me as a table, put my own hard work and sadness and joy and anger and expression into this because that's what I do.

Anyone with intuition, because not a whole lot of explaining is typical or expected in the art world. Make up your own stories to fill in my gaps and believe whatever you'd like to believe. I just provide the context – the food for thought. I, along with my work, am the cause, the stimulant, the challenge.

Next you might ask where do my inspirations stem from? How do I chose to influence my own work? I look to writers, poets, activists, politicians, musicians, cultures, and the every day human being. So much beauty and sadness can be found in both the ordinary and in the extraordinary.

Being a photographer, I see all of this. I look for all of it, constantly.

Being a writer, I think. Every day thoughts and events find themselves intertwined in some new vignette.

Anyway, all of this noise - visual, audio, internal... ALL of it is then put forth into writings, ideas, photos, etc. Hopefully I'll eventually be able to develop a fool proof system for processing and interpreting all of it into a theme or style that I can call my own.

I'd like to think of myself as an individual who is inspired by past and present. I tend not to think about the future so much. It's too dismal. But my thoughts occupy themselves impressively with themes of what used to be and what currently is. And from my thoughts and thinks stem my notions, my ideas.

Basically, I take an overwhelmingly great interest in the human life that surrounds me. Many of the concepts and events that have happened have inspired me in my work, yet they are still channeled through me first. Because these are the things that I deem important and a part of my thought processes. I don't know why, exactly. I just know that they do. I'm sure these values will change. Indeed, I expect them to. Some may stay, some may go... they're really just the dependent variables of how much life I've lived.

An especially important value that I look for in my life is morality. Right versus wrong. Social consciousness. I don't care whether someone is gay or straight, black or white, man or woman; as long as they have a good soul and true heart that they follow to the best of their abilities. Currently, I don't think there's enough compassion and fellowship in the world. I'd like to create more through my work – I want to show the world to itself. It's such a huge place, we can't possibly be aware of everything going on in every place, but we can certainly give it a try. And I'm sure growing up in the current technological revolution that walks hand in hand with an environmental and economical crisis has had more than a little to do with the shaping of my opinions. So I suppose it's only natural that I would want to incorporate not only awareness but activeness into my work.

Anyway, currently I'm feeling like I need to expand myself culturally in order to create the most true and beneficial work. If not for only myself but for my fellow world citizens. I also can't be entirely happy or content with myself if I remain as involved in the consumerism world as I am. 


So here's to accomplishing all of that.