Artist Statement

Throughout my life, art has affected me profoundly. Many times as a child, I would find myself sobbing in the face of great art without understanding my reaction. Luckily in college, through my varying studies I began to understand myself. My art studies allowed me the space for discovery and thereby claim myself.

I began my art practice as a painter, creating portraits and self-portraits that were used for self discovery and introspection. Subconscious feelings for others and myself have revealed themselves on the canvas. My writing developed studying philosophy. Quickly, I realized my definition of art included aesthetic as well as activism. Art manifests in ways of living as well the various mediums from painting, writing to film.

My early philosophical work contemplated the concept of art with the Ancient Greek. Particularly, in the Poetics, Aristotle defines empathy as the height of successful story-telling. The greatest achievement for the writer is to stimulate the audience into not only feeling similarly and agreeing with the characters’ actions but to get the audience to feel that they too would make the same decision if given the same circumstances. This idea cuts across all the arts.

The tools of great art changing into modernity are becoming more and profound. Over the years, my interdisciplinary practices led to filmmaking, the point of intersection between the narrative and the visual. The stakes are higher because the affects on the viewer can be even greater. Seventy years ago, Walter Benjamin begs us to consider the ethical use of these new technologies in his great essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Art's Reproducibility.” The intention of the art is imbedded and must transparent for the viewer to see. Media manipulates and therefore can change the world for better or worse.

Today, the technologies have moved past the 20th century paradigms. Art can be sensually immersive, interactive and completely unique every time. Now, the spectator can be the participant. The tools of these new media have even greater potential than ever before to heighten an artistic experience that provokes a life-changing experience.

My newest installation, ED, combines video interactivity with simulated space. As soon as the participant enters a 6 feet tall by 10 feet lightweight stable dome, they are immersed in a pastoral sensual environment. All the elements, from the cushions and throws blankets to the blue sunny sky, meadow scents and sounds insects, lend themselves for pleasure and enjoyment. An engaging soothing voice speaks to the participant inviting them lie down and relax. After which an avatar appears at the top the dome and tells a story induces an empathetic response.

The entire system is built to monitor the participant’s biometric data and in return create a narrative completely unique to them. Many aspects of ED are from the gaming technologies both in form and practice as well as the theoretical. Gaming informs my practice such virtuality, embodiment, interactivity and interface. Spurred by the profitability of the gaming industry have been researching these elements for many years. Their development is extraordinary from story generators and artificial intelligence, interactivity involving accelerometers and gyrometers to dialogues between humans and avatars. Many of these elements are in ED.

The aim of my work is to create opportunities for stimulating and building empathy for people cross-culturally. I want to research and use the newest media technologies and digital arts to break past the entertainment news imperialism and build bridges by connection across ethnic and social divides by focusing on the commonness of human existence and experience. This can occur through technologies already developed in the gaming industry from story generators to virtual architecture and embodied interactivity. If in gaming, the "successful game design is the creation of meaningful play", then my goal is create a game that creates meaningful play that inspires empathy.