About Me

I didn’t realize it at the time, but everyone else around me knew I was different. 

As a kid I designed my own reality, entire fantasies just within my own head. As a form of escapism my pencil was a form of peaceful protest. To liberate me from social anxiety and to express myself authentically. It was only there that I didn’t have to worry about others' perception… For a moment at least. As now there is evidence, a creation.  I felt it put me on a grander display because now there’s something else to influence your perception of me, when all I want is to just exist. I still run from the thought of being known. 

I struggled a lot then, and I still do now with my identity. As I have matured I look like both my parents. Growing up though, I have always dreaded being asked if I was adopted,  if I have a step parent, why I don't look like my siblings. Being mixed, and unconnected from cultural heritage has always left my soul yearning for more, for community. We are all born into a family that you can’t change, but family is also the people you meet and invest in along the way. Since I was a kid I have known, but it was a long and hard journey for myself to accept that I was queer. I always wanted to be, and now I am. I find a lot of connection, history, and fulfillment learning from people who have had similar experiences and others with polar opposites. I invest in building up the queer community around me, but you can connect with anyone once you start to look for similarities. There is so much pain and suffering in those who live long, but there is also joy and wisdom that I want to pay tribute to and honor through my work.

I know, I think, I perceive the world through images. I didn’t realize when I was a kid I was different, but now I know I am different. I don’t have a photographic memory, but I have hyperphantasia, extreme and vivid imagination. I have always been able to create and see in my mind. Even in my sleep I have been able to conceptualize and design. I was interested in learning because my sister said she couldn’t see in her mind while reading, in fact, she’s never been able to. She has aphantasia, the complete opposite just darkness. Not to say she isn’t creative, but the way she interprets and approaches a problem will be different from me. The human condition and understanding how everyone navigates and interprets the world fascinates me. From color blindness to tetrachromacy, the phenomenon of pareidolia (seeing faces in objects), and any other inquisitive ways people perceive, influence and guide design concepts and research themes in my work.