ARTIST STATEMENTS
Current Work 2024 – Present:
Throughout history, blindness has been perceived as absolute, and lack of sight equated to lack of ability. From religious scriptures to contemporary media, the blind and visually impaired community has been portrayed as con-artists, sinners, and helpless buffoons. Unsubstantiated representation is compounded by countless ways in which words like blind, see, and sight are employed in figurative language insults as synonyms for ignorance and obliviousness. As someone living with progressive vision loss, the true barriers I face are the social constructs engrained in American culture. My work engages with the experience of both losing sight and gaining insight into a world where ignorance and obliviousness are as “blind” as faith.
Reflective Narrative Series 2013 – 2023:
Crossing the boundaries of time, stories shape our understanding of the world. My work explores the narratives that influenced my formative comprehension of the mysteries of life. My Irish immigrant father addressed my curiosity with illustrious stories, and I was captivated by visual storytelling mediums like picture books, cartoons, newspaper comics, and Sunday school coloring books. I employ materials that directly connect to my childhood as a son of a painting contractor living in the suburbs in the eighties, like home siding (wood), book pages, and house paint, all of which inform the direction and comprehension of the work. By recontextualizing forms culled from the space of memory and fostering connections between images, text, and materials, the work investigates the mashup of narratives that influenced my formative understanding of religion, heritage, identity, and the origins of life.