Artist Statement

My work is an examination of the liminal cultural experience of those who are of a multiethnic background. Through precious metals and other organic materials, I explore themes expressing the visual design language of my Diné and Japanese heritages. My work incorporates stories challenging the complexities surrounding identity and homeland. The combining of materials, blended through distinct cultural processes, engenders hybridity which is a microcosm of me.

Society finds comfort in tidy classification and organization. The act of positioning items neatly into their place, or framing salient issues into socially digestible categories, provides people with the illusion that they can make better sense of the world. When exploring topics of ethnicity and multiculturalism, structured “this or that” categorization often gives way to complexity, challenge, and offense. Beauty and insight can be shared on points of intersection where multicultural boundaries meet. Better understanding of the unique cultural experiences of individuals who comprise humankind is often yielded from the discomfort of challenging one’s preconceived notions surrounding race and culture.