BLENDS SERIES

Through my ongoing Blends project, I connect with communities. I reach out to people to send me a story of their cultural and ethnic background, which in turn informs an organic composite portrait of an individual and the people behind them. Working responsively between the words of my contributors and the shapes that they cause me to generate, I blend layers of oil paint mixed with resin to develop a unified composition. As a mixed-race woman, my reflections on encounters and conflicts in my life experiences prompt introspection, and I want to bring that into my art. I value positivity and human dignity, and work to explore the breadth of experiences and different mixes that craft a beautiful tapestry of humanity.

I use my color sensibilities and unique painting medium to build translucent layers of glossy, low relief as a means of opening up a space for conversation and reflection. Light illuminates the layers as shapes are simultaneously individual and part of a blended whole. As an artist, I use abstraction in this way to celebrate human difference in an empathetic discourse about the complex daily negotiations necessary in navigating mixed identities in the United States.

The Blends paintings are most often exhibited with the anonymous stories.

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