MFA in Photography & Image-making Student, Paris College of Art '26
ARTISTIC WORK
This ongoing photographic project involves shooting female erotic dancers in their homes, away from the trappings of their stage personas. I go to the homes of dancers from burlesque shows such as Crazy Horse Paris, as well as pole dancers at various strip clubs, and conduct interviews while I take photos (both candid and posed) of these women in an environment they feel comfortable enough to be themselves in.
The motivation for this project is to normalize the everyday lives of these dancers and their bodies–who perform for a distinctly male gaze every night–away from the stage, the revealing costumes, the layers of makeup, and the pressure of conforming to that male gaze. In the audio interviews and the photo series, many realities that dancers experience–such as strict weight and body standards from a young age, the pervasiveness of eating disorders, and how each woman has attempted to break free from these oppressive norms–are revealed.
Ongoing project, Paris Exhibition May '26
"Offstage"
H.A.L.T. (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired)
In the summer of 2024, I relocated from Austin, Texas to Paris, France to pursue my MFA in Photography & Image-making. This move has been both profoundly expansive and deeply challenging. After over 14 years working in commercial photography, I am now reconnecting with a more personal, vulnerable artistic practice, while also writing a thesis that reimagines how women are portrayed through imagery: as whole, complex, evolving beings.
This series of self-portraits explores the moments I would normally conceal—the raw, unvarnished experiences often hidden from a world conditioned to view women through a lens of composure and allure.
In a season of often being hungry, angry, lonely, and tired—what therapists term "H.A.L.T."—this work documents the emotional and physical realities of my daily life. Balancing full-time graduate study with multiple jobs, living far from family and community, navigating a new culture and language, I find myself confronting parts of myself I have not previously encountered. With no current partner to share these private moments, I turn to my art—and to my dog, Phoebe—for connection and meaning.
I often work through long days without eating much, I race across the city from classes to home to work even more, and collapse into bed still half-working. At the same time, I watch from afar as women’s rights in America are stripped away with alarming speed, leaving me livid, disillusioned, and searching for an outlet for my anger and grief.
Photography, and self-portraiture in particular, has become a means of pausing, witnessing, and validating my internal landscape, as well as those of women everywhere.
While it is empowering to celebrate women’s achievements, this work insists that dignity and worth are not contingent upon performance or resilience. Women deserve recognition not only in moments of triumph, but in the overlooked rhythms of daily life: in exhaustion, in rage, in grief, in solitude.
Through this series, I ask: Can we–as women–be seen as whole, even when we are not composed? Can we be respected when we are not catering to the male gaze? Can our existence itself be enough?
Premium glossy paper 21cm x 29.7cm, Set of 16 images, Framed
La Virgin y Las Manolas
This piece that was produced for an Artist Residency in Madrid, Spain explores the paradox of faith and trauma, reverence and critique, particularly within the context of modern Christianity and womanhood. As someone shaped—and scarred—by evangelical teachings, I use my art to question how religion controls women’s bodies, sexuality, and identity. La Virgin y Las Manolas is a visual and personal reclamation: I embody both the Virgin Mary and the Manola, not to mock, but to confront the impossible expectations placed on women to be both holy and desirable, obedient yet alluring. This project is not for comfort—it is for reflection. I invite viewers to examine how faith, power, and patriarchy intertwine, and how we might reclaim what has been taken in the name of God.
April 2023, Digital Mixed-Medium Collage