Who are you as a human being? Outside of the art you do, walk us through your daily habits and interests.

My daily habits revolve around keeping myself mentally and physically centered. There was a point a few years ago when I realized that if I engaged in four activities—meditation, writing, exercise, and creativity—I could end my day knowing I put my best foot forward. Lately, my routine has been to listen to a sound meditation, write a journal entry, make a strong coconut matcha, then do mat Pilates or yoga. I love running, so I’m trying to do that a few times a week, but if not, I take a long walk through Prospect Park. I also call my sister religiously, usually for no reason at all, but we are always on the phone. It’s the little things!

How do you Mother yourself?

Loving myself unconditionally, talking to myself… haha. With writing, I find I’m very aware of my emotions and bad habits. I notice all my patterns and quirks and the things I’m obsessing over. Sometimes I just have to stop and direct myself out of certain thought patterns so that I don’t act on them. It happens out loud while I’m doing my skincare routine or lying in bed. I just have to give myself reminders like “okay, that’s enough” or “calm down.” Lol. At least that’s how I interpret mothering myself, because as we know, mothers have wisdom and knowledge beyond our own. It’s almost like my mature mind is telling my immature mind that it’s time to grow up.

Who or what often inspires your work? Which relationships of yours? Films, authors, artists?

A lot of the ideas for my work are from my own spontaneous thoughts and moments I’m noticing within my life. Sometimes I’ll think about how a romantic relationship made me feel and I often contemplate how I am or was being seen. For composition, lately I’ve been pulling inspiration from editorial fashion campaigns from the early 2000s and photography in general. A lot of photography inspires me just because of the range in movement, color, and emotion. I love macro photography of food, objects, body parts, etc. It helps me find direction for when I shoot my subjects for references before I begin the painting process.