My Lost Captive

These pieces are based on the exploration of drawing with light. I was working with the theme of confinement and imprisonment, but also safekeeping. I was interested in the idea that these creatures, or appendages of creatures, have been preserved and put on display, subject to scrutiny. The idea came from curiosity cabinets that were popular during the Renaissance, and also the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, where freakish abnormalities of nature are preserved and housed in jars, put on display for their spectacular qualities.

When the lights turn: character sketches

Albino Portrait Series

These works are a series that I recently completed for my portrait painting class. The subjects of the paintings are all individuals who have been affected by albinism, which is the lack of skin pigmentation. Albinos often suffer from medical complications and are seen as social outcasts or even associated with witchcraft. In some African cultures, albinos have been murdered by witch doctors for the use of their bones. All the individuals that I selected come from different racial backgrounds and yet because they are afflicted with albinism share these same physical characteristics, which I personally believe to be strikingly beautiful, and yet eerie and somewhat other-wordly.