about
As a North American artist, curator, educator, and advocate, I am known for advancing the discourse on expanded documentary photography, interdisciplinary art, and community engagement. My practice explores the complexities of the human condition and is centered on a guiding question: What mechanisms exist to support marginalized communities against hegemonic systems of power? Informed by feminist art theory and my lived experience as a queer and gender fluid artist, I examine the aesthetics, politics, and ethics of documentary techniques, both past and present. Drawing from years of intensive artistic research and community insights, I combine photography, video, sound, text, and archival materials to create multimedia installations that foster empathy, encourage critical dialogue, and strengthen communal agency.
My work has been held in several collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the National Centre of Contemporary Art in Moscow, Russia, and the Kalaupapa National Historic Museum in Hawai'i. I have received grant support from multiple institutions including the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Midwest Society for Photographic Education, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council. My work has been exhibited at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio; the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts; and the Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, Washington.
My artistic practice is informed by my background in visual arts and art history, including an MFA in Photography from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2007) and a BFA in Photography and a BA in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts from the University of Washington, Seattle (2003). I have taught photography in higher education for nearly two decades at institutions including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). During my service at the University of La Verne (ULV), I earned the rank of tenured Associate Professor and served as the Chair of Photography. I currently live and work as the Professor and Chair of Media Arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
