Exhibition Statement for: You + Me =
Through my symbolic use of animals, I incorporate existential notions about love, loss, risk, and friendship. Questions about life, death, and mortality are imbedded in this body of work. The viewer walks among the clouds (painted on the walls at floor level), alluding to ideas about an afterlife, dreamscape, or perhaps an alternate reality.
The viewer is enveloped in a space that invites exploration. Upon entering the gallery, you become an essential part of the piece, walking through an environment teeming with life. This experience encourages you to be present, actively making sense of the realm you've entered. As an active participant, you get to decide what “you plus me” equals. My installations intentionally give room for various interpretations, creating different meanings for different people.
When viewing my work, I summon you to contemplate your own reality and perhaps escape or re-think your place in the world. By exploring complexities through animals, it becomes a safe space to readdress many of our social complexities, revealing a desire for connection and the risk that comes with it.
Through illusions of clouds, water, and trees, the space draws attention to the relationship between the human-made and the natural world, prompting viewers to consider environmental themes. The serene, almost utopian vision of animals peacefully cohabiting can be interpreted as a commentary on environmental harmony and the hope for a balanced coexistence, aligning with the notion of innovation in response to environmental crisis.
