My publishing venture, Harpy House Press, has been mainly visual productions with picture books and prints. But I am slowly drifting into publishing my own written work. There has been a balance in documenting curiosities I find in the world and internet and sharing them with people, and then having the courage to share my personal pieces. 

Though what I show here through this website is mainly visual art, it might be surprising that I consider myself a writer more than an artist. The creative projects I have been most proud of were my final intensive paper for my undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice, and my thesis for my graduate degree in Counseling Psychology. 

An introduction to the concept of the Panopticon is what prompted my interest in prison architecture, and I explored the topic extensively for my last project for my Criminal Justice degree. I spent three months researching prison design and interviewing a variety of people in and around the justice system including prison researchers, architects, the former warden of San Quentin, formerly incarcerated individuals and journalists. This resulted in “Malignant Architecture: Penal Philosophy and Prison Design in America and the Pains of Imprisonment”. 

For my graduate degree my thesis examined alchemical transformation within women by connecting with the dark feminine. This is the shadow side of women that is curtailed by the patriarchy, whether it’s carnality, jealousy, rage or independence. It’s everything that women are not encouraged to express, leading them to feel cut off from their whole Selves. By connecting with the dark goddesses such as Kali, Lilith, and Inanna, the metaphorical transformation of women leads to greater wholeness. My thesis “The Ouroboric Journey: Alchemical Transformation and the Invocation of the Dark Feminine” was an incredible, difficult, and ultimately liberating project. 

I loved the process of getting lost in research and finding my way out of that by synthesizing what I discovered into a single work. My hope is to move in the direction of publishing my own essays and investigations with Harpy House Press.