Deeply informed by my ancestral heritage, both aesthetically and in the subject matter it addresses, the works in this ongoing series employ personal narrative as a vehicle to explore concepts of migration and identity including memory, loss of language, notions of home and sense of belonging and/or disembodiment. Family photographs and artifacts (ie - jade, pearls, grains, hair, natural materials) are used as portals into these spaces. Jewellery objects are often camouflaged inside the compositions, layering personal meaning, sentiment and nostalgia with broader questions about how cultural identity might be inherited, romanticized, (mis)represented, lost, and/or (re)created. Though thoroughly personal in content and layered with emotional complexities, I believe that this work speaks to greater diasporic experiences common to many minority settlers in Canada.

This work is both a tribute to and a lament for my ancestors.