My work explores the vulnerability of the human temperament. Characters remeniscent of childhood invite a viewer in. Once immersed in the imagery, undercurrents of older and sometimes unsettlingly familiar perspectives begin to surface. Innocence and experience rarely pair unless placed in opposition. As one grows, the absence of our naïveté and the shortening of our childhood are defined as “growth.” As we age, our simplicity appears to die. But experience and innocence do not always have to reconcile in disagreement in this way.
I explore impulses universal to any stage of life by inviting viewers to think of childhood as a blueprint—not as a separate entity occasionally revisited in a photo album. I call upon every adult to refer to their younger self as a living being, trapped in a time capsule. I seek to define growth not as the absence of simplicity, but as the presence of both accumulated wisdom and clarity of vision. My intent is to remind the viewer that things are never simply as they appear.