PERSONAL WORK
I believe that every artist should create personal work, as creative projects foster artistic enrichment, emotional exploration, conceptual development, and the acquisition of new skills.
As often as possible, I create for all of these reasons. Here are a few personal projects close to my heart.
Motherhood in Blue, diptych, 2023
Window Shopper, 2022
Nostalgic portraits of my daughter (at age two) outside a beautiful Christmas window display at Maven & Grace Hardwares.
Safekeeping Series, 2020
My Safekeeping Series was a portrait project celebrating the emotional resilience of mothers during the pandemic. These women graciously allowed me to photograph them through their windows or from a distance to document their experience of keeping safe during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Self-Portraits, 2019-2020
An excerpt from a year-long series of self-portraits which chronicled my experience of a life-threatening pregnancy loss to recovering to welcoming my beautiful baby daughter during the earliest days of the pandemic.
Farewell, 2019
Two pictures made to say goodbye to my unforgettable paternal grandmother, Mary Kathaleen.
The Feeling of Fragrance, 2014
Artist’s Statement
I recently moved back to Toronto after eight years of living away from home. While residing in different places (and moving eight times in the last 18 months alone) I discovered one simple thing that could make each new place I lived feel a little more like home: fragrance. Lighting scented candles, spritzing perfume, steeping teas and baking my favourite dishes were a way to personalize each space. Each scent reminded me of a fond memory or a dear friend, and it helped me from feeling too homesick.
Scent is the sense most intimately tied to memory, and when we breathe in a familiar scent, it can evoke powerful ties to our past, instil a sense of calm in the present, and stir excitement and hope for our futures. I decided to create this series of portraits as a tribute to my favourite fragrances and the memories that accompany them. In many cases, I returned to the actual place where a distinct scent formed a cherished memory.
The "Mint" portrait, for example, was shot in the back creek on my relatives' property where wild mint grows in the water. My cousins and I used to pull on our rubber boots and trek through the creek, and I'd pick the mint as I walked upstream. For this reason, two of those cousins donned their rubber boots and walked that very creek for the portrait.
This collection of images represents some of my favourite scents and depicts both specific memories and the elevated sensations and momentary fantasies that fragrance can conjure. It is a salute to some of my life's most treasured moments and an expression of the gratitude I feel to have returned home.
