visual narratives
visual + written musings.
E.O.M. ("END OF MESSAGE") / 2017
This series is a satirical reflection on my freshman year at Stanford. For those unfamiliar, "eom" means "end of message" - an acronym commonly used on Stanford email listservs. In using this as the title of my piece, I thought it would be a poignant way of declaring the finality of my freshman experience, as well as a tool to begin a nuanced and vulnerable dialogue into what my first year at Stanford has appeared like superficially - versus what it actually entailed emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.
My desire was to make a work of art that played softly between the cursory inquiries and statements students make towards one another in relation to the Stanford experience.
The piece broaches the anxieties and existentialism that these phrases elicit in someone like myself who exists constantly in a state of hyperconsciousness. I've largely felt like a voyeur of self - looking down at myself from above. Stanford has given me wings, and in the same breath, has catalyzed my fall from grace.
The end of a message: and an invitation to invent oneself into existence.
S.A.M.O: “SAY AMERICA MORE OFTEN” / 2016
S.A.M.O: "Say America More Often" documents scenes from a 2016 summer trip through Spain, France, and Switzerland with my family. The images captured pull sentiments from my internal and physical exploration of the countries. I wrote the accompanying poem upon returning from Europe.
I also had the opportunity to witness JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT’s ‘NOW’S THE TIME’ exhibition abroad at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain which featured select works centered around Basquiat’s legacy in American activism.
Struck by the differences in the national character of each of the countries I visited - I began to contemplate my own national identity. The project examines feelings of national anxiety - dispossession of the American Dream abroad - and reconciliations of self made in one’s coming-of-age.