Combustion was my first ever solo show. Presented at List Arts Center, Providence, RI in 2016, this show was an examination and expression of mental health and emotional distress through an exploration of color and line.

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This 96 inch by 720 inch drawing covered the entire wall of the gallery and dominated the space. Over the course of a few nights, I spread out this sheet of paper in increments of 30 feet at a time (half of its total length) and spent hours building up the colors and line work that made up the finished piece. I threw chalk pastels on the surface of the paper, scattered about, and proceeded to use my feet, and only my feet, to mark up the page. Pushing and pulling these pieces, sliding and stomping around the page, I exhaustedly built up this fiery world. My feet as tools offer very limited control over the soft pastels that I used. The pastels would crack, crumble, move easily and fluidly at times and move begrudgingly at others. Sometimes I pushed them along easily, other times I dragged them with great force. I knew this would be the case and this lack of control is important to the piece.

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The piece is a reflection of a period of emotional turmoil, of unhealthy mental health. It is a snapshot of exhaustion, fear, anxiety, depression, and a feeling of being overwhelmed. Its fiery colors, sporadic lines and movements, its chaotic movement, and its overwhelming size (encompassing the entire room and making the viewer feel engulfed in the space) all serve the purpose of letting you in to this state of mind.