Ornamentation is often dismissed as vanity, but to me, it’s a human instinct, a way to hold warmth, to catch light, to guard the fleeting. I regard ornament with a patient, discerning eye: not as decadence, but a narrative and anti-narrative of identity. 

I’m drawn to its duality: how fashion and decor can be both comfort and disguise, assimilation and defiance. We can wear a suit to marry the love of our life, or to defend our life in court. In my work, threaded throughout the maximalist yet intimate imagery, glistening surfaces give form to memory and heritage. Figures, jewelry, fabric, and memento pearl into intimacy, borrowed hope, and the self we show or hide from the world.