My Light

I got my light from my mom. I call her Ma. When we immigrated to the US we went from abundance to scarcity. We couldn’t afford much (survived on food stamps) but my ma made our home, clothes and life beautiful through colorful art. It’s why I am drawn to color. It’s why I became an artist. I wanted to be like her. I wanted to bring joy in through color.

My ma and I have a very special relationship which lately has been strengthened by our combined passion for creation and experimentation. She is basically my art manager.

Every night we FaceTime and I show her what I’m working on. She always encourages me and then asks me why I am not doing more 😂. She’s been really pushing me to make more videos. She says people want to see the process and I should teach. I tell her, “ma, I don’t have time!” But she’s right, I need to put more energy into things like my website and creating a YouTube channel and stuff. It’s just that if I have any free time I want to be creating. I’m so grateful to have a mother who not only encourages me but pushes me to do more. She taught me art as a child and continues to inspire me. Hope I do the same for my future cub.

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Also in Personal Art Blog

Interactive Murals for Kyruus

The opportunity to design these murals and facilitate painting them at both opening events meant the world to me. It was also a very vulnerable thing for me to do but vulnerability is what you need to connect and I hope that these murals helped to do just that.

Maternity Series - Artist Statement

Color is a focus of my work for a variety of reasons, but the main reason is for healing. My father was an angry and violent man. He took out his rage on his family daily and I took it upon myself to protect my mother and brother from him by becoming the focus of his fury. We didn’t have much, but my mother filled our home with colorful art to bring radiance into an otherwise dark place. I followed in her footsteps and escaped into vibrant art of all shapes and forms. Getting into the flow of mindful art creation has been the single most important part of my healing. I hope to share the happiness that colorful art brings me with others, especially children.

Domestic Abuse, Written by an Immigrant

Why am I sharing this? I have made it my life’s mission to fight for those who were less fortunate like me and my family, including my father who was also a victim. The first step is increasing awareness. We cannot hide in shame and statistics. We have to be loud and talk about very personal stories.

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