I have always been influenced by my surroundings. This work is in direct response to a hectic landscape, both the external urban one around me and the chaos of the land that is inside of me. I do not despair for I am looking neither to scold the disorder of my surroundings, nor bemoan the internal madness. In my work, I look only to be reminded of who I really am and where it is I am actually standing. The process of making this work has been a reprieve, a pause from all that noise and the texture and the perpetual movement that is Philadelphia. The tabletop scenes are my small monuments to stability. The personal billboards erected – a reminder to myself that I am not that missed bus or the forgotten oil change; I am not the argument over a sink full of dirty dishes or the empty dog food bag; I am not the electric bill or the clogged bathroom drain; I am not the jammed Xerox machine or the missing hand truck; I am not hateful; I am not desperate; I am not depressed; I am not faithless. We are not these things. I believe in us. I believe in you and me.