Writing and literature were my first loves, and I think so much of my passion for art stems from that. Though I mainly focused on conceptual and experimental art in college, I find myself in my curatorial practice more drawn to art that does feel ‘literary’ in a sense, meaning with more narrative characteristics or world/character building. Like with writing, the quality to transport, to engage the imagination, and to create empathy – in the many nuanced meaning of the word – are important characteristics to me in an artwork. I also enjoy the transcendent quality that the viewer/reader experiences when interacting with both modes of expression.
There is always a little room for us to step into the material; perhaps we have to sneak in, be the voyeur, or we can brazenly stand within the scene, the components primed for our arrival, but our entrance is a step towards comprehension. Comprehension of what? The answer is contingent, for each individual to discover, and I think that process of discovery carries through art and literature. In my curating, I try to bring this quality forward, to create narratives and conversations between works on different scales so that the viewer can find their own meaning, their own profundity, within an exhibition. I hope that, like a good novel or poem, the themes universal to our shared humanity are present and that the viewer discovers or gains in some way from this exposure.