artist statement

Art for me has always been inescapable. Writing poetry is as necessary as breathing. Transcribing my feelings into a visual medium is a never-ending, compulsive desire. As I’ve grown and my reality has shifted, the forms have adapted. Pages in elementary school dedicated to fantasy stories, songs in high school composed feelings too hard to speak, and films in college in pursuit of something greater.

As someone who has never felt “queer enough,” “woman enough,” or “unique enough,” I feel compelled to represent a spectrum of existence. In this rapidly changing social-political landscape, queerness representation is essential in art. My writing and visual media aim to provide a space for nonconformity and the reality of female adolescence in American society. Through the representation of my mental health issues, I want to make people feel seen. My goal is to highlight the messy, the scary, and the nonaesthetic truths of anxiety and depression.

My art is for the formerly gifted kids who start a million projects but can’t seem to finish a single one. For the twenty-somethings navigating a chorus of, “What’s next?” For the kids in high school who eat their lunch in practice rooms. For the older sisters who carry a family’s burden on their shoulders. For the adults desperately searching for their inner child despite the daily onslaught of societal horrors. For those always on the outside looking in. Those who crave understanding and proof that they’re not screaming into a vacuum.

As someone who has seemingly always existed on a plane of difference, my art aims to foster belonging and acceptance.

-Lily