What inspired you to choose this career/path ? And if you had to give your old self advice before starting working in that path, what would it be?

« I’ve always been involved in creative pursuits since childhood, including dance and film, but I think I landed on visual art as a home largely because I liked how independent / self sufficient the process was.  At the young age of 20 when I chose it as my field of study, it just felt like home.  I would probably tell that old self to take a business class – ha!  And that it will take discipline, focus, and dedication more than talent. « 

You work on the theme of memories a lot, what makes this theme so dear to you?

« I used to be very sentimental, though I am becoming less so as I grow older.  I think I always enjoyed that tenderness that comes from the act of recollecting, and really wanted to explore how to represent it visually.  The theme also pairs well with the collage medium, as the fragments themselves are cloaked in their own histories and memories. »

What part of your personal experiences/history helped you to build your creativity today?

« I think my experimentation in a variety of mediums all through childhood and early adulthood helped give a strong interest in creativity as a language – a way for humans to express all the things we aren’t able to articulate, or even fully understand. My many long years of travel also heavily influenced how I saw the world and the multitude of ways we can interact with it – a constant source of renewed ideas and perspectives. « 

In your work of collage, where does the paper that you cut come from? and how do you select them?

« The paper comes from everywhere!  Any fragment that somehow enters my life I consider keeping it for a collage.  Of course books, magazines, photographs, letters, but often it’s very unordinary things like the inside of business envelope, the edge of a card someone sent, a bus ticket, a forgotten list, an abandoned sketch.  Many pieces I collected during my travels, and I continue to use them still today.  The process of selection is completely intuitive – a color I’m drawn to, a texture, the edge of an elbow, anything that feels like a secret. »

What kind of things in life attract your attention? What moves you?

« Light – the angles and colors, usually at dusk, when I like to go on walks.  Tree shadows.  Observing someone sitting alone.  Any view from a window seat.  Children, how they are always present, how they make drawings without any fear or hesitation. Plants, fabric, handwriting, lullabies. Those who are turning away in the corner of a photograph. « 

Let’s set the perfect mood to create: where would it be, working on what, with what ambiance ?

« In a room full of light and windows, surrounded by a meadow, or garden, or orchard. Working on the biggest painting of my life.  With soft music, birdsong, a distant train. « 

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