As a recipient of the 2024 Artist-in-Residence Award at Deering Estate, I will be working year-long on continuing my series, “Sense of Belonging”, a collection of life-size photographic blueprint portraits of people in big bodies. This body of work began as a reflection of my connectedness to nature.

During my time at a solo artist residency in rural Washington state in 2022, I was faced with the question of where I fit into nature. After experiencing several scary moments (nature is not peaceful), I opened up to see myself in the landscape. The mountains mimicked my hips, curves, breasts. I embarked on trying to see where I fit in nature, and why I would possibly not feel as though I were a part of it. It occurred to me that I may not have felt connected to nature because I did not see myself or bigger body types in the commonplace marketing of nature and nature activities.

This work will center people in bigger bodies as being a part of nature. The project serves to not only help the viewer to acknowledge hidden biases, but also uplift the people I am portraying, giving them a sense of belonging and appreciation not commonly given to them by society’s standards.