Painting is the way of my ancestors. Our species evolved from mark makers; those who painted their worlds on rocky walls. When I paint, I remember. In my heart I am a storyteller. In the words of Donna Haraway: “It matters what stories tell stories – what thoughts think thoughts – what worlds world worlds.” I think about worlding a reality where we are accountable to one another across time and species. The insights of Zen Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh on the nature of our being, which he has renamed as Interbeing, describe the principle of our inherent ‘togetherness’ in a biological and energetic sense, pointing to the notion that there are no individuals in this world, and that we in fact embody all ‘others.’ I have decided to paint stories of interbeing as an alternative to the individualistic, cartesian, colonist narrative that I have inherited from our society. In form and content I reference my own observations of natural phenomenon and ancient symbols to expose a glimpse of interconnection alive in our world on this planet; in the kincentric circles of life, myth, and science that are inherently inseparable and interdependent. We cannot “be” all by ourselves.

While the physical environment around me begins to collapse alongside the paradigms that have ushered its destruction, I find myself compelled to paint other possibilities – to imagine and inhabit other ways of knowing and being with this earth that do not conquer ‘other ’ without a sense of humility and accountability. My paintings channel these thoughts and experiences.

We can world other worlds. My work is simply a method of processing and articulating my own cosmology so that I can honor this lifetime and the living world in all its mysterious complexity.