My studio practice involves a focused, sustained inquiry into the relationships between what I see around me, what I feel inside me, and how I work with paint.
The series of sunflower paintings, entitled “Media Vita in Morte Sumus,” explores this phrase from the eighth century Catholic Mass, “In the midst of life we are in death,” as it relates to my experience of mental illness.
In choosing to use sunflower imagery, I am directly alluding to Vincent van Gogh, his paintings, his inner life, and his relationships with the people he loved and who loved him.
It is my hope that this body of work contributes to deepening our social dialogue about mental illness, psychiatric medications, and creativity.