QE artist fellowship application
QE Artist Fellowship Proposal
This past year, I took a deliberate step back to reflect on where I am in my practice. After more than a decade of steady work, it felt necessary to pause—to reassess what continues to feel vital, what has become routine, and what needs to evolve. I revisited the many corners of my practice and realized I had reached a point where change was not only possible, but essential. I made the decision to reorganize, bring closure to certain ongoing directions, and open myself to new and unexpected expansion.
The artists who have always inspired me most are those who take bold risks—who make surprising choices in their practice, even when it means stepping away from what’s familiar. Looking closely at my own trajectory through that lens, I recognized it was time for me to do the same. This period of reflection reaffirmed that growth requires disruption, and that I needed to make a decisive move forward rather than continue along a comfortable path.
In the images I’ve provided, I share various examples of how I’ve engaged with language across different bodies of work. In my Ruminations series (2018), created during a period of personal grief, text emerged as a quiet reflection—a way of processing emotion through fragmented thought. In Bedroom Mythologies (2019), I turned to secret codes and concealed writing as a way to address intimacy, identity, and the unseen. More recently, in works such as Da 1st (2025), I embedded the full text of the First Amendment into layers of concrete, using it as both structure and metaphor. These works chart the gradual emergence of language in my practice—from a hidden element to a more deliberate and integral force.
During the fellowship, I plan to bring that evolution to the forefront by focusing on my relationship with text, phrases, and coded language as the primary material in a new body of work. Historically, language in my pieces has been embedded within the surface—partially revealed or deliberately obscured—but I now want to make it central, allowing words themselves to hold space and meaning. As part of this exploration, I intend to experiment with new methods of presenting language—through sculptural forms, relief surfaces, and elements like neon.
This direction feels urgent in a time when language and information are manipulated, stripped of context, and under attack. Much of my work has centered on the idea of “materials as witness,” and I see this next phase as a natural extension—treating language itself as a material that records experience. The fellowship will provide the structure, resources, and time to develop this new direction with intention. It represents a turning point in my practice: a chance to take a risk, expand my visual language, and continue exploring how meaning endures as it marks time and place.
