Nominated by Northwestern University When I started college, I had an identity crisis. I was presented with the opportunity to choose to be someone I had not been before. I chose to be an artist. The modern world has a skewed perception of what art is. But art has been integral to our society since its creation. To make art is to be human. I make art for myself. To remember what I was once, and what I had once. To relive what is now lost. To feel more than what is allowed me to feel. To push something to the extreme, and challenge the dogma of my daily life. To grow as a person, and to remain untethered. When I look at the history of art, I think of all the things that have been said. I know that the only thing I can offer the art world is something that only I can give, myself. My work is personal, introspective, and emotive. I primarily focus on the topic of identity: queerness, sexuality, gender identity, religion, ability. I primarily focus on image makings, from traditional media such as painting, to new media such as digital work, with a special focus on portraiture. If the human body is the framework of society then the human face is its keystone. Most artists hope to create something, hoping it will outlast them and thereby extend them. I am looking to make something that will extend who I am now. Rather than my work outliving me, I hope to outlive my work. To do that I hope to keep changing, to keep experiencing the dawn, to experience the new sun day by day, and to see someone new in a familiar face. Image: What is now lost, 2017