Abscission 
1: the act or process of cutting off; removal 
2: the natural separation of flowers, fruit, or leaves from plants

This body of work ruminates on the process of change, a fundamental and inevitable circumstance of life. As my life has gone through a number of exhilarating and devastating changes, this process has been a major theme in my work. 

Change has the opportunity to frighten, uplift, and devastate us. There is powerful potential in the unknown. Our perception of change shapes our existence. As leaves and all living beings deteriorate, they undergo physical changes that bring them to maturity — and also, ultimately, to death. 

Examining leaves as living beings approaching death creates new visual possibilities. When backlit, irregularities and blight are accentuated. The maze of veins and intricacies on each leaf can guide us down many different paths. The rot and detailed destruction uncover different narratives, some favorable, some detrimental and hostile. The leaves transform into maps of change. 

This series confronts the viewer with defamiliarizing the familiar. The images transform into symbols of the cycle of existence—birth, growth, death, and ultimately rebirth. Decomposition sets into motion necessary change. That metamorphosis, whether it mutates into something desirable or formidable is in fact, inevitable. This series is meant to bring forth the viewer’s feelings and personal experiences with change, along with individual interpretations and visions of familiar yet abstract landscapes.