Artist Statement

My artwork is largely centered around my identity being chronically ill and disabled. I started using illness as a focal point in my art-making when I realized it was a part of me that I could openly identify with. My experience in higher education has taught me that my Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is not something I need to hide or be ashamed of. CF shapes almost every aspect of my life, including my daily routines, relationships, academic pursuits, and artistic practice. Through my art, I highlight the ways CF can be viewed outside of a strictly medical lens and instead offer alternative and creative viewpoints.

I incorporate my own medical devices into my art as a way to repurpose medical waste and offer insight into the materials I rely on everyday. I have used my oxygen tubing, expired medication, I.V bags, feeding tube supplies and masks to make sculptures, installations, and self portraits. Additionally, a lot of my work touches on nostalgia, memories and my attachment to cherishing my life experiences as someone with a shorter life expectancy.

My ultimate goal is to initiate conversations about disability representation in the arts. There is a lack of discussion surrounding disabled artists and I want to change that. Rather than perpetuate negative assumptions of disability, I strive to celebrate it by highlighting its unique beauty. I work to achieve this by centuring my body, medical devices, and life experience in my art.

ig: @row.1

We are Starzzz