“I don't believe in art. I believe in artists.” Marcel Duchamp

Artist Statement

My art finds itself in a haiku the moment I surrender myself

I am inspired by the dance of the human emotion and organic bodyscape across mountains, trees, landscapes of light and shadow, in different mediums, and our relationship to oneness. I see non-duality in every duality. I start with no assumptions of the final composition or model. I surrender.

My practice of art, poetry and permaculture gardening on a creekside mountain influences my process. I discover this relationship not by thinking, but by allowing the moment to be born by being here now. The compositions come later in a narrative, a discovery that comes alive in a sequence of work in the studio, in your dreams—connecting your inner journeys—not any work by itself.

creation happens
when the thinker and thinking
become One

All artwork displayed here are copyrighted. Do not use without written permission.

The recent years (2013-present)

After moving to California, I stopped photography for a few years and expanded into new mediums and printing techniques, including painting in ink (sumie), encaustic (hot wax), oil, and mixed media. With a new found love for opensource, I resumed photography with a digital medium format camera and a new workflow built mostly on opensource tools, like Darktable. I make my own prints and often source custom wax and paper from local craft stores. For mixed media, I use a variety of medium—including leaves and insects from my creekside forest—across different surfaces and technologies: paper, canvas, digital, metal, redwood bark, and off multiple 4k projections in my studio.

Shiva Shakti, self portrait
drawing, charcoal
Rebirth
drawing, charcoal
In Search of light
drawing, charcoal
Boudoir bodyscapes I
photograph
Boudoir bodyscapes II
photograph
Boudoir bodyscapes III
photograph
Boudoir bodyscapes IV
photograph
Boudoir bodyscapes V
photograph
Dedication
encaustic, mixed-media
Emergence
encaustic, mixed-media
Immutant
photograph
After Snow
photograph
Sunset on Boggs
photograph
Forest Whisperer
photograph
Forest Gatherer
photograph
Poly
photograph
Home again
photograph
Surrender at Atitlan I
photograph
Surrender at Atitlan II
photograph
Calling Ancestors I
photograph
Calling Ancestors III
photograph
Calling Ancestors I
photograph
I believe I can fly
Charcoal on paper
In Stillness, I believe
Charcoal on paper
Who Am I?
Charcoal on paper
Awake I
photograph
Awake II
photograph
Awake III
photograph
Awake IV
photograph
bird conscisousness
oil painting
whispering trails
drawing, charcoal
dusk
drawing, charcoal
winter solstice
drawing, charcoal
surrender in sedona II
photograph
surrender in sedona I
photograph
Chlorophylia
mixed media
dreamer's orbit
mixed media
I can't breathe
mixed media
magnolia
encaustic, mixed media
Shakti Rising IV
encaustic, mixed media
Shakti Rising III
photograph
Shakti Rising II
mixed media
Shakti Rising I
mixed media
Silverlight I
photograph
Silverlight II
photograph
Silverlight IV
photograph
Third Eye
ink painting
Resurrection
mixed media, rice paper
Hope
photograph
After the fire
photograph
Ascension
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Through the light
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Montana Blues I
photograph
Montana Blues II
photograph
Montana Blues III
photograph
Montana Blues IV
photograph
Resurgence
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
The Window
photograph
Fire Wind
mixed media
After fire
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Abandon I
photograph
Abandon II
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Abandon III
photograph
Treemorpher
encaustic, mixed-media
Do you dream in color?
encaustic, mixed media
✸ shown at gallery
Memories
encaustic, mixed media
Meditation
mixed media, canvas
Shiva Shakti Surrender
painting, handmade paper
Magdalene
mixed media, with caroline holmes
✸ first place, juried exhibition at mendocino art center
Blue sunset
mixed media, with caroline holmes
Into the Caves
mixed media, with caroline holmes
Gravity, Gayatree Series
mixed media, with caroline holmes
✸ finalist at art show
Parallel worlds, Gayatree Series
mixed media, with caroline holmes
Fairy I, Gayatree Series
photograph
Fairy II, Gayatree Series
photograph
Worship, Gayatree Series
photograph
Awakening I, Gayatree Series
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Awakening II, Gayatree Series
photograph
✸ shown at gallery
Surrender, Gayatree Series
photograph
Refuge, Gayatree Series
photograph
Into The Sea
mixed-media, with caroline holmes
Make America Think Again, Oakland Feminist Rising 2017
photograph
We Pledge, Oakland Feminist Rising 2017
photograph
Zero
ink painting

The early years (2005-2012)

Though I often had a camera, shot landscape photographs and blogged in travelogies, while backpacking living and traveling around Europe in my early twenties, I started my true photography journey with street photography on a 35mm SLR in 2005. I discovered the work of sebastio salgado, cartier bresson, dorothea lange, and many street and documentary photographers. For over six years I was a part of the Boston Photography center and enjoyed being a part of a sweet community of photographers. It was not until the summer of 2010, where I took workshops with a pulitzer-prize winning photographer, BD Colen, and fineart photographer, David Hilliard that I stopped clicking my camera and started making art.

Curious
photograph
Lonely
photograph
Separated
photograph
Together
photograph
Homecoming
photograph
Homecoming
photograph
The night after
photograph
Awaken
photograph
Alone
photograph
Free
photograph
The Watch I
photograph
The Watch II
photograph
The Watch IV
photograph
The Watch III
photograph
The Watch III
photograph
The Suitcase I
photograph, in collaboration with a non-profit in India
The Suitcase II
photograph, a documentary for a non-profit in India
Clockwork
photograph, a documentary for a non-profit in India
Malaria I
photograph, a documentary for a non-profit in India
Malaria II
photograph, a documentary for a non-profit in India
Under the stars
photograph
Music in stillness
photograph
*Collaborations:
Mixed media in Gayatree done in collaboration with Caroline Holmes