One of my favorite things about making art is immersing myself in a subject that I’m fascinated with or curious about, and then presenting it in a way that highlights the qualities I find beautiful.

My latest body of work is a series of charcoal drawings depicting young girls in moments of concentration, exploration, and discovery. They were inspired by my daughter and other girls that I had met while assistant teaching for a year. As they played, I could see them using their imagination, trying things out, making connections. They hadn’t yet absorbed the expectations our society puts on girls in relation to gender and power, and hadn’t yet learned to doubt themselves. They knew their own voices and were truly themselves in these moments. To me, this is beautiful.

These girls represent my own lifelong journey towards a kinder self-understanding and broader perception of the world we live in.