The majority of my work is made up of playful colors, along with toys and childlike items intermingled with darkness, which I use to convey my past. As a victim of sexual child abuse, I allow myself to express the vast mixture of emotions evoked in this common experience. I express the pain and displeasures along with my lost childhood through a facade of playfulness, a twisted mindset of humor, childlikeness, and the depths of violation. Due to the emotional intensity of these pieces, I also create other works for visual and/or humor pleasure to give my mind rest. I believe this variety allows me to engage more authentically with my work for my own healing and for the healing of my audience.
My paintings tend to focus on the emotional aspect of what happened, while my sculptures tend to focus on the reality or the facts of the event. In my paintings, I lean towards vibrant colors. I also use calming or neutral colors to relax the piece from all the commotion created by the vivid colors. In order to go back and forth between oil and acrylic paint, I use clear spray paint. In my sculptures, I use toys and childlike objects to depict my missing childhood. The toys bring a sense of playfulness to the work. Sometimes I will add bold colors to enhance its playfulness. At the same time, I try to bring a homey vibe to the pieces, which represents the location in which the abuse happened.
In my visual pleasure works, I allow myself to step away from thinking about the tragedy and simply focus on details, texture, and composition. I explore different materials and techniques, which I might use in my future works related to my childhood.