I utilize filmmaking as a language to explore the psychological friction between fantasy and reality. Common themes that are discussed in my work are; romantic yearning, emotional torment, social isolation, and sexual frustration. I relay this through visually striking, homoerotic imagery.
My work is deeply intimate, capturing the pained ecstacy of raw vulnerability. Through this vulnerability, we can examine the darkest corners of our individual psyches and collective desires.
I am a filmmaker and photographer currently based in Chicago, IL. Before moving to the midwest for my BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I studied photography at Santa Monica College. During my time in LA, my work was placed in juried exhibitions back in 2017 and 2018. My photo series, The Godless Photograph, was exhibited in my last year in California.
In the past few years, my work has shifted from photography to filmmaking as a means to add layers to the narratives I found emerging from my still photos. My first short film, Hunger, won the best silent film program at the Pan Eros Film Festival (2023, Seattle) where it also theatrically premiered. The film has also been nominated for best editing at the Cinema Soup Film Festival (2023, Chicago) and best actor at the Europa Film Festival (2024, Barcelona). Hunger was also selected for the Chicago Underground Film Festival (2023), San Francisco Porn Film Festival (2024), Flat Earth Film Festival (2024, Iceland), and received an honorable mention from the Experimental Forum (2023, Los Angeles). The film is now streaming on PinkLabel.tv, a curated pornographic streaming service that is affiliated with the San Francisco Porn Film Festival.
Regarding Hunger’s gallery exhibitions, Hunger had its first public showing at the Cherry Knot pop-up exhibition titled “What if We?” in
February 2023. The film also participated in the “Maybe Fake’s What I Like” 2023 online exhibition as well as the experimental analog art exhibition titled “Processing…” that ran in the Chicago art gallery, Space.01. Hunger was also shown with other artworks that evoked the philosophies of Barbra DeGeneve in the SAIC exhibition dedicated to her legacy, “Subversive Pleasures, Mapping the Problematic”.
My second short film, Annihilation, premiered in a 16mm film screening at Chicago’s DIY art space, No Nation, in March of 2024. The film theatrically debuted at the 31st Chicago Underground Film Festival in September 2024. It has since been selected for the next Hacker Porn Film Festival (2025, Italy) as well as the next Pan Eros Film Festival (2025, Seattle).