I create research-driven art using printmaking, painting, drawing, and writing to explore the ways in which identity and environment intertwine. My practice is rooted in the study of ecology, ornithology, museum studies, poetry, and the visual language of archival material. I am particularly interested in cataloguing and collection, and often direct this interest this towards documenting my local fauna and the conservation threats which they face. Since moving to Philadelphia, I have focused predominantly on creating data art documenting avian window strikes in urban areas, one of the preeminent conservation threats facing birds in the city. Being on the Atlantic Flyway has also been deeply impactful, and I have been making more work recently about the migratory waterfowl and shorebirds that frequent the marshes south of Philadelphia. These species especially have been on the front of my mind lately with the rise in H5N1 avian influenza infections that are particularly prevalent in waterbird populations. By making work about human interaction with and impact on birds, wildlife, and environment, I draw attention to our critically important, yet precarious relationship with the natural world and advocate for changes that could strengthen it.
Much of my inspiration comes from my field research, which involves birdwatching, researching native wildlife species, connecting with scientists and ornithologists, volunteering with conservation efforts, accessing and referencing the collections of natural history museums, and reading voraciously. I synthesize these gathered source materials into monotypes, lithographs, and artist's books that combine life-sized drawings of diminishing bird species, maps of the local environment, imagery of human alteration of natural landscapes, and text. The culmination of these research efforts are are layered prints about habitat loss that invite viewers to critically question practices of irremediable damage in our natural landscapes.