Artist Statement:
We live in uncertain times—this statement was true at the beginning of the semester, and this statement was true several years ago, but it has never been more true than it is as a write this, in my parents living room, 60s sitcoms on the television with a strange and tired fear in our hearts. As a young adult on the verge of graduation, my life is already in a state of transition and uncertainty, which has only been amplified by the current circumstances. I fall into the strange overlap of generations—too young to be a millennial, too old to be gen z. I am 23, I am queer, I am an artist and a writer, and above all else I am scared. Scared of what the future may hold, or what it almost certainly will not—security and safety. I understand that many my age hold a similar fear. It is my goal to externalize these feelings, in order to make sense of them myself and allow others, feeling the same way, to see solidarity and gain some form of catharsis. I have chosen to illustrate these feelings through a combination of my photographic collages and my writing. For years I have viewed my writing and my art as separate entities, but I have recently come to see them as one in the same, and both have been made stronger through combining them. I have come to view my photography and my writing as a sort of raw material. Neither is a complete piece on their own and must be torn apart and combined to create something whole. It is this blending that has allowed me to express my fear more clearly and truthfully than ever before. I am still afraid, but not silent.
Capstone Presentation:
