San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
June 5 – July 13, 2008

Here It’s Peace presents a series of paintings and digital prints depicting figures—portraits and silhouettes—within quasi-abstract landscapes. The work reflects a contrast between personal, immediate experience and the broader realities unfolding in the world. While the environments I inhabit feel peaceful, I remain aware of lives shaped by conflict elsewhere. The images emerge from this tension between proximity and distance.

The work begins with photographs taken in daily life—family, friends, desert landscapes, plants—which I transform digitally through layering, transparency, and color. Some compositions remain as prints, while others are translated into paintings, extending the process across media. This approach reflects my background in photography and graphic design, and an ongoing interest in combining digital and painterly languages.

My time living in Africa as a teenager continues to inform this work. The experience shaped my perception of landscape and humanity, and deepened my connection to desert environments. These open spaces become a setting for the figures—quiet, expansive, and reflective of the human condition.