The Key

This collage is part of a series of abstract works that explore the relationships between my shapes and use of color. The harsh reality of 2021, particularly the impacts of the pandemic, requires me to have outlets where I can be playful, creative and free of the pressures of creating something with a specific outcome. The economic impacts of COVID on my studio practice has made it so that I am keenly aware of the materials that I use.

I was brought up in an immigrant household where we wasted very little and this shaped my own practices around the materials I use in my art. I always try to have intentionality around how I use my “scraps,” even when they're considered disposable. Rather than throw them away, I save them and eventually find uses for them in my collages. My goal is to honor the labor that...