This focus of work began as a pandemic-era study of what I felt at the time was a benign, mental health escape from the current state of the world around me. Drawing and painting flora at first seemed to make no statement- political or otherwise. However, as I began expanding on these works, I noticed patterns developing in my choice of subject. Many were plants commonly found in the geographic region of my youth. I quickly realized that the flora I was creating were self-portraits in a way; each flower representing a specific time and place in my life. With this, I became interested in what other potential meanings each plant held and the evolution of their meaning across time and cultures.

Using elements of traditional botanical illustration as a grounding point, I contemplate the symbolism of each inflorescence and how the meaning is changed or altered when juxtaposed with its surrounding elements. The maps, sheet music, and other ephemera I incorporate as texture are outdated, thrifted, or otherwise discarded. Their identifying elements disappear or reappear between layers of paint and pencil, sometimes rendering them as incomprehensible as making tangible the intangibility of memory and dream.