BOTTOM FEEDERS
2012-2015
Upon returning to my childhood home on Long Island in 2010, I began creating a body of work inspired by imagery from my youth and my new familiar surroundings. I have a conflicted relationship with where I'm from. It's beautiful, but like many places has some unpalatable history.
A common decorative theme in people's homes on the island is obviously the ocean. Dinner plates and picture frames adorned with pastel colored starfish and dolphins, nothing reflective of the actual waterways we lived near.
I developed this body of work in an effort to depict a more visceral version of the ocean life (some of which I'm wary of) and waterways that I actually lived near. I channeled Belleek ware, something found in the homes of my Irish family, and held in high regard. The inclusion of detritus such as bottle caps and cigarette butts in the imagery facilitates the surrealistic narrative.