My practice explores the relationships between photographic art, multimedia, and autobiography. My art has many facets and expresses concern for subjects like physical disability, familial relationships and art education.

 

At birth, I was diagnosed with a rare genetic abnormality of the recessive type: oculocutaneous albinism. This genetic disorder does not only affect the production of melanin in the skin, eyes and hair, but also causes serious eye problems. Like many other people who show differences, I encounter discrimination and I am often stigmatized by others in my personal and academic life. However, this adversity inspires me to produce art with multisensorial qualities where photography interacts with sound, light, images and other tangible objects in the hopes of creating awareness. I try to question what it means to see, yet also stimulate the interest for the visual arts, a way of self-expression that is of great importance in a K-12 educational setting.

 

I am from a family that is both Québécoise and American. I grew up in a small village within a rural region of Québec, Canada. At the age of 18, I moved to the United States and settled in the state of Rhode Island. This cultural duality influences my artistic work, particularly when a project examines familial relationships and my own personal experiences.

 

Depending on the project, the techniques and materials that I use vary. But my tool of predilection is a digital camera, as it becomes my “eyes” because it gives me the capacity to perceive things I cannot in my environment. Additionally, photography is a way for me to share an experience or a story. As for my multimedia work, I explore the multisensory by having audio, tactile and visual information interact with one another. The methods I use range from manipulating sounds to “sonify” photographs, to physically intervening onto a photograph with, for example, reflective materials or acrylic gel. This way of creating closely resembles the way I function because my lack of visual acuity intensifies my other senses. This forces me to use them to have more  of a holistic experience of the world by supporting my visual shortcomings.