My work investigates the fluid nature of cultural identity within the context of contemporary displacement and belonging. As an artist whose life has unfolded across six countries spanning Europe, Asia, and North America, I examine how cultural memory functions as both anchor and catalyst in the formation of personal and collective identity.
Through dynamic abstract compositions executed in acrylic, oil, and cold wax medium, I create visual palimpsests that mirror the layered nature of cross-cultural experience. My paintings function as emotional geographies—mapping not physical territories but the psychological landscapes that emerge from continuous cultural negotiation. The accumulation and excavation of paint layers becomes a metaphor for the way immigrant identity develops: through the sedimentation of cultural influences, with periodic revelation of foundational experiences beneath.
Working within the tradition of gestural abstraction, I employ color as a form of cultural translation, building bridges between disparate sensory memories and emotional registers. My abstract interpretations of natural forms—particularly botanical and landscape elements—serve as universal languages that transcend specific cultural boundaries while maintaining deep personal resonance. These motifs operate as symbols of adaptation and growth, addressing the broader contemporary question of how we create belonging in an increasingly mobile world.
The tension between preservation and transformation that characterizes diasporic experience manifests in my work through the interplay of additive and subtractive processes. I build textured surfaces through layering, then selectively remove material to reveal underlying strata—a physical manifestation of how cultural identity simultaneously accumulates new influences while periodically returning to foundational elements.
My practice engages with the phenomenology of home as described by Italian writer Cesare Pavese: "Un paese vuol dire non essere soli" (A place means not being alone). This concept of place as emotional rather than geographical space informs work that seeks to create visual environments of connection and recognition, particularly for viewers navigating their own relationships with cultural belonging and displacement.
In our current moment of increased global migration and cultural intersection, my work contributes to ongoing conversations about identity formation, cultural translation, and the creation of meaning across linguistic and geographical boundaries. Each painting functions as both personal archaeology and broader meditation on the universal human need for connection and place.