Artist Statement

Growing up, there was God in hard work and there was God in helping others. Art and higher education were acknowledged but weren’t seen as paths to the Glory land. These were my truths until I discovered photography at the age of 12 when my grandmother took me on a bus trip to the Chicago Art Museum. It was there I craned my neck up and saw inside of myself for the first time. Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s black and white photographs of his family masked up in the Kentucky woods left my mouth ajar and my grandma worried. I didn’t know it then, but I had been born again.

Fifteen years later, after a lot of hard work and helping others, life got too big and my feelings too strong. Somewhere in there, Meatyard spoke to me again. So, I took the camera and went on my own personal journey through heaven and hell. What transpired was a collection of photographs that helped me sort through my own truths, feelings, and distorted realities. I decided it was time to take this tool – and myself – seriously, so I applied to a university.

Photography became my anchor. It taught me to listen to my gut, unpack my truths, and find stillness. Just like hard work and helping others, art requires effort, but its reward is connection. Through photography, I’ve come to see that the act of creation is as much about discovering oneself as it is about sharing with others. Art reminds me that every voice, including my own, belongs in the conversation.