Artist Statement

Culturally, the act of selecting and consuming food carries with it associations ranging from basic necessity to psychological comfort, indulgence, and vice. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) a French lawyer and politician who gained fame as an epicure and gastronome said, “Food is all those substances which, submitted to the action of the stomach, can be assimilated or changed into life by digestion, and can thus repair the losses which the human body suffers through the act of living.” Much like Brillat-Savarin’s philosophy, my work expresses the cultural, psychological, and physical manifestations of a precarious relationship with food as it is sought to fill emotional voids and buoy vulnerable relationships, making the difficulties of life more bearable. I am drawn to the concept of food as a source of comfort, mending and becoming part of the body and expressing these ideas visually.