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Every artist talks about when they had their ‘breakthrough.’ And so this being an artist blog, I will be no exception.

When I was in my Junior Year in college, I chose to study abroad in Europe, specifically in Florence, Italy. I had never been to Europe before, and it was a whole new experience for me. Ofcourse, there were difficulties I had to deal with considering I have both Crohn’s Disease and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Everywhere I went, I needed to have a plan of where to go, whichw as difficult when you are in places that you don’t speak the same language in.

While traveling in London one weekend, I found an artist who changed my entire perspective on things: Cornelia Parker. I had seen her hanging silverware pieces, and found them incredible. I then realized that what I wanted to do, was installations, not paintings. Paint was something I wanted to incorporate into my work, but I did not want to consider myself a “painter” necessarily.

This is when I started creating, what I consider, my portfolio work. It was important to list before this all of my work previously, because it is always important to see how we go somewhere. Not necessarily just the current place we are at, especially artistically.

My first piece I created was a performance and installation piece inspired by a jumpsuit I had found at a thrift store in Florence.

I began by cutting up hundreds of squares out of cardboard.

I then painted the squares white. Afterwards, I painted the exact pattern of the jumpsuit on to the squares.

I wanted to create a piece of work I could dissapear in to. So I made the squares match my jumpsuit. Above is a picture of me in the pile of newly painted squares.

From here, I began to build my “portal” of the Crohn’s Disease that I could have taking over my body. Symbolizing the disease itself and how I interact with it.

I then painted the pattern of the jumper on to my body with acrylic paint.