I’m honored to have received a 2026 California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, Legacy Tier, administered by KALA Art Institute, Berkeley.
It means a great deal to have my work recognized in this way, and I’m especially grateful to be included alongside a remarkable group of San Francisco Bay Area Legacy Fellows: Florante Aguilar, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Mildred Howard, Alleluia Panis, Favianna Rodriguez, Deborah Vaughan, and Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, among many other artists statewide.
Brain Flowers, 2026. Mixed media and collage on board with found frame, 32 x 32 inches.
I’m grateful that the fellowship will give me time and support to continue making new paintings and contributing to a larger conversation around art and disability. We need more images by disabled artists, and histories that understand us on our own terms. Recently, I’ve been painting flower arrangements for my newest Brain Flowers series, returning to my longstanding engagement with vanitas still lifes. These paintings combine direct observation with collaged images of my MRIs, bringing disability and the body into a tradition concerned with beauty, mortality, and change.
