about the watercolor stories

Via my work, I’ve met a wide array of people and enjoyed the kinds of conversation and connection people talk about craving throughout their lives. When I think about these encounters, I’m reminded of something from my ethnographic research: for over a decade, I worked with theatre-makers in South Africa to explore how and why they incorporate art within healthcare. A refrain I heard repeatedly among artists across categories of class, race, gender, age, and ethnicity was the notion of using art to “find the universal through the specific.”  

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As an anthropologist, I critically questioned the foundational premise of this idea: human universality. How could any person’s voice—or art—capture another’s reality? Given the uniqueness of each person’s lived context, what could even be considered universal? But as an artist, I found the notion inspiring and challenging.

 

What I depict can never encapsulate the totality of another person’s experience. But parts of what I see in the world may resonate with others, and this is what I seek to capture in my watercolor pieces: significant moments in my life and the lives of people with whom I come in contact. I hope you enjoy these distilled moments and recognize some part of yourself—or your loved ones—in them.

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To view, please take a look through my Watercolor Stories Collection.