“When a car accident upended my health, personal life, and career as an architect, I was forced to reinvent myself. I found a way to utilize my creative potential for healing by creating art. My passion to create is now driven by my changed experience of life after my traumatic brain injury. Both the function and aesthetic of my work are born out of experiencing disability.”
Based out of Durham, North Carolina, my art is a child of the pandemic. This work began with the creation of simple paper form studies in the basement of my home during April of 2020.
Simplicity is both the constraint and the strength of my brand, Folded Poetry. While headaches limit my hours of screen-time production, the bedrock of Folded Poetry is the use of a small number of simple forms which, when created and compiled physically, can be arranged to create complex geometries.
These geometries are inspired by persistent visual disturbances caused by my traumatic brain injury. Often when I look at patterns, they appear to swim or move on their own accord, much like an optical illusion. I seek to capture the structure of regular patterns and shapes, while adding a layer of visual information which the eyes and brain can't quite make sense of. This disorientation is designed to challenge viewers to perceive outside of what is normal or traditional, just as I must now live, adapt, and navigate the world in new ways.
Drawing upon my architectural training and skills in craft and construction, I’ve pioneered creations of ‘acoustical art’ pieces - works which are both beautiful and serve to make spaces more quiet and accessible for individuals such as myself who struggle with auditory overwhelm. My work pushes beyond framed pieces of art and navigates where aesthetics meet functionality.
While my work is indeed impactful as art itself, more importantly it has been the primary driver behind the recreation of my health and the reimagining of my life’s purpose.