ARTIST'S STATEMENT

As an undiagnosed, neurodivergent child, I would spend many recesses alone in the library pouring over books about animals, plants, and space. Time would slow down. I would disconnect from my body, and I would absorb information in fascinated hyperfocus. Before I knew it, the bell would ring and I’d be thrust back into the noisy jungle of a classroom where I keenly felt my differences from my classmates.

In this series, I recall my childhood fascinations and feelings of other-ness with alien plants that are both detailed and contradicting. Like many neurodivergent people, I have a strong sense of justice and black and white thinking, especially when considering abundance and survival in the ecosystem of our capitalist society. To explore these contradictions, I reference carnivorous and dangerous plants like pitcher plants and venus flytraps, and life-giving seeded fruits like pomegranate and papaya. They are threatening and prickly, but also bountiful and life-giving specimens.

In my sculpting process, I gently hand-pulled and fired tendrils and petals to capture a moment of movement, repetitively placing them into wet clay. Using clay in different stages of moisture and process brings fractured moments in time together. It forces me to slow down and consider the entire life cycle of the clay object as it comes together into a form that will outlast us.

When engaging these objects, I invite viewers to see both movement and stillness, abundance and anxiety, and other complex, contradictory emotions. I hope these plants create a space to consider these primal feelings, and open inner dialogue about how one may react to things both foreign and familiar.