My artwork does not present the picturesque, but the ugly socioeconomic underbelly of our culture, places that most eschew, encampments of the unhoused. The residents of the encampments that I paint are often curious and ask me about what I am doing, leading to profound conversations. In this way my work opens up intimate interactions with a population that is socially maligned. To strengthen my connections within this community I also volunteer with service organizations.
My work is deeply personal, originating from my experience of surviving housing insecurity after college and working for years amid the unhoused masses in Los Angeles’s Skid Row. I understand that most are one tragedy away from living on the streets themselves. My work is a witness through decades of systemic and cultural failures to address the needs of those in poverty. The current criminalization of the unhoused at all levels of our government, the rapid rise of housing costs, and knowing friends and family stretched to the budget brink, highlights the timely significance of my work.
As a manifestation of my principles, energy and commitment, rooted in my own experience, my artwork is not a capitalistic artifact, but an attack on the epidemic of homelessness and poverty. These paintings are an affirmation of my beliefs in socioeconomic justice and the human right to healthy housing that I desperately want to experience in my city and all others.