The art I create is inspired by my childhood and the many causes I am passionate about. Growing up, I was obsessed with nature and the many animals that inhabit it. I would spend countless hours binging David Attenborough documentaries and flipping through the pages of my many animal encyclopedias. At each Scholastic Book Fair, I constantly begged my mom to purchase yet another animal picture book, and dragged her to every zoo and aquarium wherever we were visiting. Although, as I have grown older, these books have turned into Netflix documentaries and my National Geographic Animal Encyclopedia is now a daily visit to animalia.bio, this wonder from my youth still remains one of my greatest interests. 

While growing up, I believed that to cherish these animals, I needed to domesticate or have whatever animal it was in my possession. I felt these zoos, whether aquatic or not, where animals were captured for human viewing, were entirely ethical and did not bat an eye at the moral price tag accompanying these visits. Now, having grown to understand the issues behind capturing these animals, I understand that to appreciate the environment, there is no need for it to be in the palm of my hand or to be able to see these ‘creature showrooms.’

Yet, it is not only this immoral consumption tied to viewing these animals that causes tremendous harm to the environment; it is also human overconsumption in general, because even if it seems hard to believe that day-to-day choices have an impact on the planet, they do. With every plastic purchase or clothing haul, more and more waste is being put into the environment, which pollutes and destroys these animals and their habitats. 

Hence, my art—whether photography, oil painting, drawing, or mixed media—is intended to capture this transition from childish naivety to adult understanding, as it relates to the tough questions of morality and ethics that come into play when discussing animals and the environment.