Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, I was inspired by the grittiness in my surroundings as well as the beauty I discovered at the Art Institute of Chicago. After receiving my first camera for my 10th birthday, the Polaroid Swinger, I was hooked. I secretly wanted to be a photographer. Secretly, because I didn’t feel that someone from my neighborhood could be in the world of art.
I am intrigued by the imagery that still resonates from the explosion of photography in the 1940s – in style, experimentation and the transition to color from shadowy black and white. As photography keeps evolving, visually and technologically,
