Combining art, research and advocacy, my visual practice is primarily inspired by photographers such as Robert Frank, Dawoud Bey and Alec Soth. Their images of people and places -- posed, candid, choreographed, and naturalistic -- seize the delicate balance between relatedness and anonymity, engagement and spontaneity, challenging viewers to interpret content.  My work is further influenced by artist social scientists, such as Sarah Pink and Kerstin Leder Mackley, whose visual ethnographies changed the face of anthropological research. Their inclusive methods illustrate the potential of research in achieving social change and developing new knowledge by tapping into the emotional resonance of visual metaphor.
My images are also informed by Erikson's stages of development.  Consisting of a series of developmental steps with opposing outcomes, Erikson's theory first articulated the possibility of lifelong personal, emotional and relational generativity. My visual practice seeks to portray the dynamic equilibrium between living and dying, witnessing and acting, and hope and despair, through the lens of the life course of people, places and objects.