WHEN + WHERE

Opening reception: Thurs. September 25, 5 - 7pm

Exhibition on view: Sep. 26 - Oct. 14, 2025

Gallery hours: Mon - Fri, 9am - 4:30pm, by appointment

Gayle and Ed Roski Gallery, Roski Studios Building (IFT)

ARTIST STATEMENT

When I sob and doodle in the park I’m usually thinking about the last person that rejected me. I’ve come to understand that rejection —  a vulnerable state that strips us of power — forces us to confront unseen aspects of who we are. 

Felt U: Gardens & Grids is a bendy, malleable response to a world built by hard-lined grids that sometimes render humans as fixed and without agency. Using the rose garden as my anchor and felt as my medium, this collection allows me to hold my true self. My chosen material of felt reflects a personal craving for softness and sensuality, standing in stark contrast to the cold, rigid landscape of cruising apps I navigated throughout my adolescence and early adulthood. Like the roses in the USC / expo rose garden, these felt pieces are nurturing yet rebellious and firmly rooted but always changing. In centering the garden, I hope to draw attention to the ways that beautiful spaces can be made with grids, just as ugly memories can.  Virtual or physical, our grids are negotiated and we must have agency in understanding how these systems are working for or against us.