I was raised in Oak Park, a socially conscious suburb of Chicago that declared itself a Nuclear Free Zone in the 1980s. In college, I studied artists who used their work to speak out—Honoré Daumier in 19th-century France, Käthe Kollwitz in wartime Germany, and Sue Coe in 1980s England.

 

While studying abroad in England in 1991–92, I created my first body of work responding directly to current events, addressing the first Gulf War. After college, I worked in social services and made art primarily as a personal practice—something that calmed my mind and soothed my soul.

 

It wasn’t until 2016, following the killing of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge and the election of Donald Trump, that social issues returned to the center of my work. I began by hosting Finding Your Voice, and that shift has continued to shape the art I create today.

 

See all available Socially Engaged Art.