Time in the Desert

Walk Between the Chollas Cactus, 20x24"

I grew up in Orange County but after my parents divorced my father moved to Las Vegas. I spent subsequent summers and holidays of my teen years in Las Vegas. The dry air, the clear skies and cactus all remind me of those times where I was in-between families. I dont feel exactly at home in the desert, but it also feels familiar. The times I spent in the desert were always bittersweet. They were short-lived and never quite what I wanted them to be.

San Diego is considered a coastal desert and is bordered by true desert just an hour or so inland. In the last year, Ive enjoyed visiting the desert again with my own family and my experiences in nature have inspired recent works.

The desert scenery is very unique, and although life in the desert is hardy, I get a feeling of fragility. And this is what interests me.

With climate change upon us, water is scarce in the desert. How much longer will life in the desert be able to survive. How many more years do we have in a habitable planet?

My purpose is to capture moments and life as it is right now, because time is fleeting, and things are changing so rapidly we can barely keep up. As my children are more in the adolescent phase now, I feel our time together is shorter than ever. Showing children in nature, especially the desert environment, is for me a symbol which captures the fragility and impermanence of life, and fleeting time.