I am a Southside Chicago community member primarily practicing Handmade Papermaking, Ceramics and Tattooing. I graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in Studio, focusing in Fiber & Material Studies where my primary medium was Handmade Papermaking. Papermaking has served as a process of understanding what is lived and what is felt—which calls for time, patience, and understanding; all things I work to directly incorporate into my own life practice.

Handmade Paper is essentially serving as representation of a plant created into a new form–breaking down material, repurposing and creating new possibilities from fiber in the present. The material considerations made in process permanently impact the fiber’s existence. My process usually starts by pulling a base sheet of either Cotton or Kozo fiber, I then mix pigments with fine cotton fibers to then apply each individual square of color to the base sheet by way of syringe—this takes 6-8 hours total.

Papermaking has served as a vessel to physically create and communicate so many narrative possibilities using color, texture, size and pattern without ever directly transcribing with language. I constantly feel so incredibly much daily, that I create connections in my head. I do this by associating color and pattern with people, places, and emotions helps me further understand how everything leading up to my present life relates to the now. It’s all about feeling and understanding the physical process. Everything during the process leading up to the fully formed sheet is what is so crucial to creating one single sheet.