My work centers on the entanglement of the natural world and the human figure to examine the body as a porous site of memory. Continually pushing the boundaries between unsettling and tender imagery, I probe what bleeds into and out of ourselves, asking whether wounds of penetration become points of entry or exorcism. As a queer transgender man and survivor of sexual violence, I create larger-than-life, saturated, oil paintings rooted in biological and anatomical knowledge in an attempt to reclaim elements of myself and translate my innermost ineffable thoughts into image. By resisting legibility, the binary body, and simplified narratives of trauma, my work carves space for the vast complexity of how we show up with love for ourselves, others, and the environments that hold us. 

If my mind is its own ecosystem, then my paintings attempt to dioramatize that world, compressing experiences into dense, staged habitats. I begin my process by selecting recurring analogies and motifs that splinter from the poetry I have written, such as birds living inside of me. For reference photos, I collage images of my body and limbs into distorted figures grafted with biota, constantly testing new ways dissect and embody intimacy, nostalgia, and the gutturalness of human life. Drawing deep inspiration from the sense of rapture the natural world invokes in me, my work takes on a religion of its own, with the figure submitting and crucifying themselves to nature through pose and expression. By utilizing the underpainting and many thin, scrubbed-out layers to cultivate an emotive atmosphere, and weaving in graphic and hyperpigmented regions to guide the viewers, I isolate the figure in a landscape void of reality yet lush with the felt presence of the past. I render certain areas of the piece, such as the face, feet, hands, and natural elements, with extreme realism, pulling them forwards and out of the wash and towards the viewer, toying with the liminal space between myself, the canvas, and those looking in. 

Influenced by surrealism, I aim to capture moments that feel indescribable yet deeply human. My paintings speak in tongues, triggering a sense of unspoken belief and curiosity in the viewers rather than offering an immediate meaning. Ultimately, in a harsh world plagued with alienation, through an invitation to linger and recognize oneself within my paintings through bruises and scabs, I wish to instill a feeling of belonging and shared vulnerability with my audience as we both ask ourselves–What do we have the obligation to worship? To cull? And what will climb within us when we lie exposed?