COLLEGE PROJECTS
Trash Bouquets
My Trash Bouquet series documents the unexpected relationships between discarded trash found and wildflowers found along the streets of Morgantown. I combine litter and flowers I've gathered to create compositions that challenge what we label as beautiful or worthless.
Working in black and white forces me to focus on form and texture rather than the immediate recognition that color provides. The black and white reveals the visual conversation between things we thoughtlessly discard and the wildflowers we rarely stop to notice. Each bouquet captures a specific moment with a crumpled can, a forgotten wrapper, and delicate petals, all stripped of the context that usually determines their value.
These images ask viewers to reconsider their consumption habits and the landscapes we move through without truly seeing. I'm interested in how beauty persists in overlooked spaces and what becomes visible when we slow down enough to look. The stark compositions turn street corners into sites of reflection on our throwaway culture, making the mundane worth examining more closely.
Waste Herbarium
My Waste Herbarium series documents food waste through carefully constructed compositions that treat discarded scraps as botanical specimens. I collect items destined for trash bins and arrange them as if they were worthy of scientific study and preservation.
Working in black and white references traditional botanical archives and helps viewers see these remnants in a new way. It also blurs the line between food waste and naturally found plants. Form and texture become visible when color and context are removed.
By positioning scraps as subjects rather than waste, the series questions how much food we waste per year. The taxonomic presentation suggests these compositions deserve the same careful documentation as rare plant specimens. There's a tension between the scientific objectivity of the format and our emotional response to decay.
This project established my approach of transforming overlooked materials into something worth examining closely. I'm interested in how this deliberate framing changes our relationship with what we consume and discard. The images ask viewers to reconsider how quickly we forget what we've thrown away and what might be worth noticing before it disappears.
Consumption Cycle
My Consumption Cycle series continues my exploration of pseudo-botanical specimens by combining discarded electronics, expired food, and plant matter. Building on Waste Herbarium, this work examines the relationship between technological waste and organic decay.
Working in black and white references scientific documentation while stripping away the context that separates natural from artificial. Thin wires mimic plant stems. The compositions blur the line between what grows and what we manufacture. Form and structure become visible when these materials are treated with the same care as botanical specimens.
I'm interested in how these forms suggest different futures. One where our trash overwhelms the natural world. Another is where nature adapts and incorporates our technological remnants. The work asks whether technology will consume nature or if nature will eventually reclaim everything we create.
The title references both our cycle of buying, using, and discarding, and nature's cycles of growth and decay. These opposing forces increasingly converge as the boundary between natural and artificial continues to blur. The images invite viewers to examine their own consumption habits while considering how nature might respond to what we leave behind.