Qurio Operating Table: Inspired by Nkisi nail fetishes in African art history, this work continues the narrative of my performance piece Operating Table. I embedded a painted, expressionist corpse beneath a sheet of vinyl “skin,” then drove rusty nails into its surface as both protection and violation.

I constructed the wooden table myself in woodshop — an unexpectedly torturous experience. A dangerous space of nicks, bumps, and sharp corners, echoing my poor proprioception and the embodied discomfort of the original work.

I still use the lamp from this piece in my studio. It’s powerful.

THE LIST: This installation began as an attempt at accountability — a circulating document of names and stories about individuals who had caused harm. Very quickly, serious legal concerns emerged. I sought guidance from California Lawyers for the Arts, who advised anonymizing the stories and disconnecting them from the storytellers entirely.

I printed these redacted accounts on soft pearlescent gold paper that shimmered under gallery lights — a visual contradiction of beauty and severity. Viewers were invited to read, reflect, and contribute their own written experiences on scrap paper at an adjacent table.

Tulleh: Tulleh is an eleven-foot-tall orc woman radiating vulnerability and sensitivity. She stands against the wall like a glowing sentinel, surrounded by painted flowers suspended from the ceiling with fishing wire. Her scale and tenderness transform the space into a shrine of monstrous femininity — soft, towering, and luminous.