Growing up I was always a shy person. I was never the loudest in the room and I usually stayed more quiet and observed everything around me. I’ve always been good at reading body language and emotions. I can usually tell when someone is mad sad or just not acting like themselves even if they are trying to hide it. I think that is why art became such a big part of my life because it gave me a way to speak without having to actually say anything. I realized that when I made my first painting and showed my friends. I put all these different emotions into the characters and they were able to see the meaning behind it without me having to explain everything. That feeling stayed with me and made me want to keep going. I was always creative growing up and I used to draw and paint a lot as a kid but as I got older I got focused on other things and creating stopped being a priority. Looking back I regret taking that break from being creative but at the same time I think it made me appreciate what I have now even more. The studio gave me the chance to reconnect with that side of myself and become who I really am.

Painting for me is like breathing. It is therapy. It is medicine for my mind. When my head is going in a million different directions painting grounds me and allows me to focus on just me and the canvas. Everything else disappears for a while. Every painting I make is personal to me and I become attached to it because each one represents a certain emotion thought memory or time in my life. ENFUI means to run away in French and for me that means running away from my past self my old emotions and old ways of thinking and becoming a new version of myself every day. I’m only 21 but sometimes it already feels like I started late and I think that is why I feel such a strong need to create and keep pushing myself. I believe creativity is a superpower that everyone has. You just have to tune into that frequency and find what allows you to express yourself. When someone looks at my work I do not need them to understand exactly what I was feeling when I made it. I just want them to feel inspired to create something of their own. Art has given me purpose and made me feel more fulfilled in life. My goal is to leave my mark build a real community around creativity and inspire as many people as I can to create freely.