Complex portraiture is where I thrive. I believe every living thing has something within that connects us all as well as something that defines an individual's perspective. Our culture and history, our folklore and songs, our localized environment and wildlife and so many more things create a Venn diagram of special qualities we all can learn and grow from the more we share them. At the diagram's center, we coexist and that fine mixture of shared experience is what I seek to express visually.

Since the fourth grade, I've constantly returned to the textbooks of mythology. The stories that we create based on our fears, our vices, our triumphs and our spirituality are some of our most emotionally vulnerable stories, an anonymous way that we can tell the world who we are while assuring ourselves that even gods and creatures of fantasy too go through the hardships and joys that humans do. The ways these stories inform worldwide cultures and religions is my core focus of my work.

There's a monumental project that I want to create, one that I've begun to outline and plot over the course of the next few years. It's called 'The World Project', a series of paintings in which I represent every country on Earth through a singular portrait. These paintings will showcase some of the most important aspects of each country's culture, history, wildlife and mythology. The prize would help to fund the time, research, materials and studio rental in order to complete this project.