I am an image based artist rooted deeply in the Midwest. The rural landscape continues to shape my understanding of people, place, and memory. I often look at creating visual narratives to explore the intricate dynamics of interpersonal relationships, illuminating their profound interplay with the environments we inhabit. I am interested in how these images show an evolving relationship between work and life, belonging and departure, presence and absence.

My work takes the form of constructed images within an installation inspired by theatrical staging and painterly lighting. Through deliberate manipulation of the lighting, environment, and natural color of the work I transform familiar spaces into performative places of memory and emotion. The process of creating the work itself becomes an act of storytelling as I spend time listening and bonding with the subjects and setting I am choosing to display. Each decision from the artificial lighting, costuming, furniture, or prop I am using in the composition then becomes a purposeful part of the narrative I am unveiling. The process of creating the constructed image pushes my imagery beyond documentary photography and into a theatrical representation revealing layers of personal identity. The work becomes a dynamic depiction of my interpretation of rural life in the Midwest with the goal of exposing poetic emotions to form a sense of nostalgia.

As a lens based storyteller, I continue to share my memories and perspective on my life within the Midwest, as I challenge the viewer to think deeper about the specific narrative exhibited. Through my work, I examine societal norms as a means of provoking critical reflection on the fundamental emotions of human experience.