KINSHIP is a series of pieces I've created as my senior thesis piece, and have won the award of Senior of the Year for at the VPAA class of 2019 art show, "Anomaly". You can read about the process of creating these pieces by reading my blog category "Senior Thesis". The following is my artist statement for this work:

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     A nuclear family is defined as a familial unit consisting of two parents, typically a man and a woman, with children. This is widely accepted and expressed as the norm; it makes up around 69% of families that children under 18 are a part of. In the modern day, families as a whole are starting to become more diverse, though, so not all of them reflect the traits of the nuclear family. This series was initially inspired by my own family being a divergent of this structure, as my parents were divorced and separated over a decade ago, and I have an extremely weak relationship, if any, with most of my extended family. So for most of my life, my family has been different than what the media typically portrays as an average family, and because of this I have felt like I was always missing something that I should have in my life. However, I am far from being only one of few who feel as though I am missing something, or that they are obscure for having a family that is different than what is portrayed as “normal”.

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     I believe that to diminish the idea that something is not “normal”, more diverse representation in every kind of media is a necessity. In order to be a catalyst for that belief, I created a series of child-like illustrations portraying a variety of animals that represent different family structures that many people can relate to, not only those in the average family structure. I created this in order to celebrate and appreciate families that are different being among those that are considered average. Work like this is something I see as essential in today's society as we become more diverse as a people and ideals change. What will encourage change for the better is goodness, knowledge, and acceptance of different kinds of people, including what their families may look like.