“My series City Folk uses the vernacular of typified American "folk" art—particularly Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Fraktur traditions—to ask questions about derisive narratives of contemporary urban living, and how those fall in stark contrast to the wholesome, moralistic perception of that visual language. As is the case for many mass produced objects in craft and home decor stores, these pieces blur traditions together, creating a sanitized shorthand for virtue that speaks to a specific class of Americans, many of whom increasingly reject the promise of our cities.

​

Integrating quilting motifs, city signage, and other public visual languages, the work explores how these stereotypes exacerbate urban neglect: digital alienation, gentrification fueled by late-capitalist employment patterns, and fallacies of rugged individualism collude to villainize the very communities whose needs they undermine. Within this context, I consider the dream of collective community and its obstacles to fulfillment. Can we fulfill the promise of living together without erasing one another?”