Artist Statement

“It may be possible to live with the doors slammed shut, to call a room or a house ‘home’ without considering where it is located, where it stands, and where we stand”-Lucy Lippard, The Lure of the Local

The current body of work, Absence of Roots, focuses on the inconsistent definition and sense of “home.” This definition is formed from personal experience, as a child whose family moved frequently and lived in many different surroundings. This lack of stability, or rather- lack or roots, guides the current body of work. Dwellings do not define the individual, for places inhabited may consistently change throughout a lifetime. If one stays in the same place for their entire life, their surroundings will grow, change, and transform, out of the specific control of the individual. Absence of Roots is comprised of a series of paintings that depict different exterior and interior spaces of home, for there is not one single definition of “home.” Photographs have influenced the paintings, yet the paint allows for the desired image to be manipulated, creating a specific feeling of irregularity. This work focuses on this feeling of change, inconsistency, and memory of environment. Surroundings can be manipulated and differ depending upon how they are chosen to be remembered.