Ophelia is about power, and loss of innocence. Each flower represents a part of the story, inspired by Ophelia in Hamlet. Pansies (whose name is derived from the French word pensée, meaning “thought”), fennel, a quick-dying flower symbolizing sorrow, and daisies, representing innocence. 

Ophelia 

We are never able to hunt and gather enough to return home with our bellies full, but we can still dream. 

Hunt and Gather 

This piece is inspired by Kintsugi, the art of repairing Japanese pottery with gold, to symbolize that something “broken” can be made even more beautiful. It is hard not to feel deeply broken after years of chronic illness and the daily pain, fear, anxiety, isolation, and loss that comes with it, but no one is ever truly broken. I will never make it back to the girl I was before, but I can still make something beautiful out of this one.

Kintsugi 

This piece is about depression and the importance and difficulty of staying in the light and not falling into the darkness. 

In the Light 

This is about the loss that came with my own illness, paired with the pandemic, and the feeing of uncertainty around what the future will look like post-pandemic. 

Future

This is about the cycle of pain leaving, returning to the body, and back, until acceptance is found in this new order. 

Return 

Architecture was made to last, and we were made to fall. This piece explores this dichotomy, the frailty of the body, and facing your own mortality during illness. 

Architecture 

This piece explores the importance of continuing to dream, and to grow, even when you are waking up to the same circumstances and hopelessness can feel inevitable. 

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