Simply being present feels tenuous in this current era of distraction. My work is a conscious attempt towards happiness, humor, and resiliency, chronicling the complex nature of being human during these modern times. I illustrate figures who seek to stay present when anxieties and emotions abound. When portraying such commonplace scenes, I utilize symbolism along with my materials to describe the visual, digital, and physical performance within quotidian life. My compositions are exercises in color, movement, and material application; they build unworldly yet tangible narratives of awkwardness and warmth. I am partial to the tactility and legacy of drawing and painting, and use both loose gesture and rendering to mediate between the corporeal and the imagined. By embracing a range of timelines, I create layers of personal memories and art historical references, folding various histories upon themselves.