Child Free, Called the River
Sensotasia is a mixed-media series rooted in perception as both subject and process. Developed primarily through watercolor, graphite, and layered natural materials, each work explores how sensory experience shapes symbolic meaning and identity. This body of work is not just about what is seen, but how perception itself becomes a living, evolving system—one where the boundary between self and environment dissolves and reforms through time.
Without typical sensory filters, my perception of the world has always been heightened, diffuse, and deeply immersive. At times, sensory input overwhelms—light, sound, texture, and movement merging into the body until internal and external become indistinguishable. In this space of intensity, I began developing personal symbolism as a way to navigate, understand, and anchor myself.
While creating Sensotasia, I revisited early perceptual memories: moments when the world felt too large, too loud, too bright. In those moments, I sought out the textures and forms that quieted the noise—burlap, willow leaves, tree bark, and graphite lines. These became more than objects; they became symbolic extensions of self. Stars represented orientation, bark represented boundary, and willow leaves became symbols of surrender and survival.
Over time, these symbols formed a personal cosmology—deeply informed by animism and the sense that all matter holds agency, energy, and memory. Each piece in Sensotasia functions as a perceptual artifact: a visual marker of the inner processes of integration, fragmentation, and transformation. Through layering materials, reworking surface, and invoking the alchemical nature of water and pigment, I construct a language of self rooted in the natural world.
