My visual work is animated by a set of ever-changing questions, most of which are related to the idea of making visible, articulated by a group of educators who trace their philosophy to the schools of Reggio Emilia. I wonder: Who is made visible and how are they made visible? and How might the visible be re-imagined such that the (previously) invisible can surface? I am inspired by the ideas of reframing and reconfiguring ideas of and around childhood as both a concrete life stage and as a culturally constructed entity.

In my collage, I aim to take up the images, ideas, words, and perspectives on childhood that dominant culture has given us and to literally re-configure them in ways that push against notions of romantic, easygoing childhoods and, instead, insist that there is a complex richness and active processes of construction happening within the space of so-called childhood. In my photographic work, I center the mundane—the basic, everyday moments that make up the vast majority of lived experience.

Via both photography and in multimedia collage that integrates original photographs, as well as images and artifacts gathered from the collective cultural archive of childhoods (as seen in the found images from publications for and about children, texts and visuals intended for children, and so on). De-constructing, de-contextualizing, and then (re)assembling what are essentially dispatches from the aforementioned collective archive is an act of play. As my practice develops, I am eager to playfully re-configure and wholeheartedly imagine my way into a new intersubjective world.