I'm interested in movement. For the majority of my life I've been physically active: As a kid, I was a competitive gymnast. Later I worked as a club-dancer. When I was 21, I became seriously ill from a bacterial infection that led to the amputation of both legs below the knee. After acclimating to life as a prosthetic-wearer, and my physicality and abilities having changed, my interest in movement deepened.
I am fascinated by illusion and simple animation. I'm drawn to the creepiness of fakes, things that reveal, transform, or have hidden compartments. (The discovery of a room in a house begins a reoccurring dream.) In past work, I made dolls and sculptural objects, and then produced animation using the stop-motion process. I was influenced by an interest in medical drawings, historical wax models and dolls, and optical toys; flip dolls and paper dolls; the structural aspects of Japanese jointed dolls, Hans Bellmer's doll work, Louise Bourgeois' cell installations, the animation of Jan Svankmeyer and the Quay Brothers. At a time that I was seeking a more playful process and an art experience beyond a two- dimensional film clip, I took an opportunity to apply my affection for illusion within the frame of a stage performance. Currently, I'm focusing on performance and movement.
Movement and Illusion continue to play major roles in my current work, although I've begun to discover new approaches that are exciting and terrifying. I am using my own body, both as a direct approach to animating forms, and also as a way to explore issues of physicality and difference. Despite my own terror and discomfort in being watched (or, maybe, because of it), I am finding that being in front of viewers as a performer with deformity can produce a magnetic tension that could be developed into strength. I attempt to channel this tension by exaggerating the mode of physical difference (for example, presenting myself on stilts).