One of many self portraits created during covid lockdown in 2020.

During this time period, I lived in a very small studio apartment in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Being thousands of miles from my family, dealing with the stresses of a global pandemic, a civil uprising, and my always-tumultuous personal life... I fell into a severe depression which resulted in a very “dark” era of my artwork.

Confusion and exhaustion are written all over my face in this piece, which is where the value is for me personally. It accurately represents how terrifying the world was and how alone I had felt in it.

I strive to tell the full story of who I am and it is incomplete without mentioning my failures and shortcomings. My dark and angry eras are time for internal resurrection, it breaks down boundaries and rebuilds them better than before. It is a time for strength building and character development. It is a time for transforming the bad into something positive.