My solo exhibition ‘Our Love Remains’ opens at @waterlooarts on August 7th, 2026. My thesis show opens April 2026.
I’ve been told that I’m hard to love. When I was a child, my thoughts consisted of, “Why won’t anyone love me? What’s so wrong with me?” I have always believed that I am unlovable. Drugs didn’t work, people didn’t work, and self-harm didn’t work to fill this void inside of me. My way hasn’t worked for a long time.
I have had a few long-term relationships, many of which have ended badly. I’ve been single for 3 years because losing a relationship turns me to desperation. I am afraid to get close to people out of fear of being hurt or hurting them. This desperation to be loved has led me to date people that I didn’t like or love simply because they loved me.
I am so desperate to be loved, I always have been.
This loud, persistent desperation, coupled with my mental illness and childhood trauma, has led to a pattern of emotional abuse, which is the antithesis of who I want to be and how I was raised.
I was hospitalized this past summer because of this desperation. I was at a breaking point. I said to my new therapist, “I truly believe that everyone would be better off if I were gone”, and the thought played in my head over and over again for 48 hours until I was admitted.
The love I have been searching for my entire life has to come from within me.
I’ve left behind a tremendous amount of hurt and needless suffering because of my desperation to find love outside of myself, to prove to myself that I am lovable.
This show is dedicated to those who have loved me and whom I’ve hurt.
This show is dedicated to those who visited me in the hospital, who took care of my cats, and who have always stood by me through hardship, addiction, recovery, turmoil, and desperation.
I have signed a contract to start a new 6-month treatment program for emotional dysregulation and have started a new medication, which is working so well that I wish I had taken it years ago.
“Devour life, don’t let life devour you”
I’m glad I have the opportunity to share my life and my art with you.
Making art is the reason I have survived this long.
Exhibition Duration: August 7 - September 19, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, August 7, 2026: 6-9 PM