BACKGROUND

Born in Costa Rica, I spent the first year of my life in an orphanage. I played in the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of Manuel Antonio, surrounded by monkeys, iguanas, and countless species of birds. I'm forever grateful for my early time in the rain forest.

After earning degrees in fine art, anthropology, and Spanish from Lawrence University, I moved to New York City with one small suitcase to dance the mambo and ended up studying at Parsons School of Design, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the New York Film Academy. In New York, I worked as an art director for brands including Martha Stewart Living, Tiffany & Co., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That work paid off my student loans, and funded my photography habit and the production of my first 16mm art films.

In 2005, I moved to California to support environmental and social justice projects via design and art direction, and hoped to deepen my photographic and film work. I served as the creative director for Color Of Change, (the largest online civil rights organization in the United States), and for Citizen Engagement Laboratory (now called the Center for Cultural Power) which helped launch 33 organizations focused on environmental and human rights initiatives. I produced and helped shoot a feature documentary on Tibet, arranging partnerships with Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, and filming luminaries including the Dalai Lama. I worked as a film director and art director for short films on climate change whose assembly programs have educated 25+ million students and trained over 4,000 student leaders. Alongside Academy-nominated filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, I served as a film curator for Pangea Day, an international multimedia event which broadcast content to over 60 million screens around the world. The project was honored to have Robin Williams, Cameron Diaz, Paul Simon, Lisa Ling, Forest Whitaker, Bob Geldof, will.i.am, and Christiane Amanpour contribute to our efforts.

After a decade supporting social and environmental initiatives as a freelance creative, I'm grateful to be creating and selling my photographic artwork, and most recently, AI-assisted "post-photographic" artwork based on my photography of the American Southwest, using custom training, prompting, inpainting, and digital painting on masked photoshop layers.

For the past seven years, I have been creatively collaborating with (mostly elders) from the rarely photographed Hopi tribe, learning about Hopi culture and history, and together creating fine art photography. We consider our work an intimate, artistic cross-cultural collaboration. 50% of the proceeds from photography sales go back to the individuals, organizations, or villages photographed.

Thanks to blockchain technology creating a novel marketplace for digital art, and the art communities that have sprung up as a result, thousands of artists are thriving in ways they had never before, connecting directly with exhibitors and collectors outside of traditional art markets. Through Art Lovers Lounge, essentially a radio show I host on X (Twitter), I love helping other artists find their voices in order to contribute their creativity toward a better world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am interested in making tangible the gift of life on planet Earth, and exposing authentic moments of the light of humanity. Humans have spent a lot of time telling stories of our suffering to ourselves. As a civil rights and human rights activist of over 20 years, I understand how advocacy needs this kind of imagery. I also think that as an overwhelmed, media-saturated species, we’ve exhausted many enlightening aspects of hyper-relativist postmodernist imagery. My work intentionally challenges the skeptical imagery of post-modernism to re-embrace nuanced universality and the value of emotion. I love highlighting genuine stories of humanity’s strength and emotional brilliance.

HIGHLIGHTS

2024Art Basel, Crysp Studio, Group show, Light of the Hopi and Seven Realms works on exhibition
2024Art Crush Gallery World Council, Curation for one of the world's largest public digital art exhibitors
2024Art Crush Curation, I curated Mexican artist Domingo Pablo to exhibit throughout Belgium in November
2024National Art Center Tokyo, Japan, Call for entries winner, Seven Realms piece on exhibition
2024Budapest, Hungary – Ad Hoc Fine Art Gallery / Mamaison, group show
2024"100 Photographers to Watch" thehug.xyz, by Nat Geo photographers Michael Yamashita & John Knopf
2024Artbees Gallery, Romania, "for the CULTURE" group show
2024HUG Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia, Superlative Gallery
2024NFT London, Fashion Forward, Seven Realms artworks on exhibition
2024Art Crush, Belgium, my work screened on 1200 billboards across Belgium in June & July
2024Art Crush Curation, I curated three artists to exhibit throughout Belgium in July
2024Avaissance Artist in Residence, with National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey
2024St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, three of my works auctioned for their fundraiser
2024Oculus World Trade Center, New York City, exhibition of five of my Seven Realms artworks
2024NFC Lisbon, Portugal, Seven Realms artwork exhibited
2024Jutta Gallery, Soho, New York City, 16 Light of the Hopi & 14 Seven Realms artworks exhibited
2024Times Square Billboard, group show by NFT Aotearoa
2024Niceaunties co-curation for Times Square Billboard, during NFT NYC
2024The Crypt Gallery, New York City, group show
2023Beeple Studios, Charleston, South Carolina, Crypto Winter Wonderland exhibition
2023Mecenate Fine Art Gallery, Rome, Italy, group exhibition
2023NFT Aotearoa, Auckland, New Zealand, Eyes On Fire Gallery exhibition
2023Times Square, New York City, Sloika exhibition including Mourn in Times Square
2023SuperRare, post-photography piece Mourn curated by Sloika
2023Focus Bloc, Paris, France, curatorial board member
2023Art Lovers Lounge, Twitter show host interviewing prominent artists (ongoing)
2022Art Basel, Miami, Florida Time Magazine show sponsored by National Geographic
2022Obscura.io, core team / Twitter show host
2022Black Box Gallery, New York City, Obscura's Uncanny Valley group show
2022Uncanny Valley exhibition, work in the permanent collection of artist Claire Silver
2021ArtDome, Metaverse, curation for a museum of international artworks (ongoing)
2019Center Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of 100 photographers selected from around the world
2017TedX Sedona, Arizona, Light of the Hopi presentation & exhibition
2017Edition One gallery, New Mexico, group show, Light of the Hopi work
2017Sangre de Cristo Museum, Colorado, group show, Light of the Hopi work
2014Sustainable Revolution, 368 page book. Creative Director, Designer & Photographer
2012Documentary Feature: State of Control, Producer & Camera Operator (featuring the Dalai Lama)
2011Chaksampa Tibetan Opera, Documentary Photographer
2010Color Of Change, Creative Director & Photographer for US' largest online civil rights organization
2009Citizen Engagement Lab, Creative Director for social justice organization incubator
2009Clothing of the American Mind, Cinematographer
2009Action for the Climate Emergency, Film director & editor (films seen by 25M high school students)
2008VideoTheVote.org, Short film stop motion photographer, to combat voter disenfranchisement
2008Jane Fonda & WomenInMedia.org, Documentary Photographer
2008Al Gore’s Alliance for a New Humanity, Documentary Photographer
2008Participant Productions & Chicago 10 Feature Film, Documentary Videographer
2008Costa Rican Ministry of Peace, Documentary Photographer
2008Documentary Feature: Say My Name, Film on women in hip hop. Camera Operator
2007Jehane Noujaim & TED.com's Pangea Day, film curator, event reached 60 million screens worldwide
2007Broadway Show: Slava’s SnowShow, Documentary Photographer
2006Cirque du Soleil, Documentary Photographer
2006Documentary Feature: American Cannibal, Camera Operator
2006Rene Risque and the Art Lovers with Moby, Film Project. Cinematographer
2005John Trudell, Native American artist/activist, Documentary Photographer
2004Elie Weisel, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, Documentary Photographer
2004Pigeon Spirit: ‘Best Cinematography’ by Oscar winning directors, 16mm, Director & Cinematographer.
2004Grim Experiment, 16mm Short Film. Director & Cinematographer
2004Warriors on the Moon, 16mm Short Film. Cinematographer
2003Tiempo Libre, Grammy awarded Cuban band, Cinematographer & Portrait Photographer
2002Central Park Summerstage, Onstage Camera Operator
2001Broadway Show: Avenue Q, Documentary Photographer

My clients include: Andante Records, Apple, Action for the Climate Emergency, Alliance for a New Humanity, Aqualillies, Avenue Q, (Richard Branson's) Carbon War Room, Center for Cultural Power, Central Park Summerstage, Chaksampa Tibetan Opera, Cirque du Soleil, Climate Majority Project, Color of Change, Costa Rican Ministry of Peace, Dreamworks Pictures, Elie Wiesel, Emerge America (Kamala Harris), Evolver.net (co-founder), Grammy-nominated rapper Fat Joe, Free Range Studios, Guayaki, Hairspray (on Broadway), Jack Morton Worldwide, Native American artist/activist John Trudell, Martha Stewart Living, McCann Erickson, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Participant Productions, Pushpin Group, Restoration Hardware, Slava’s SnowShow, Grammy-nominated Cuban band Tiempo Libre, Tiffany & Co., and the Tribeca Film Festival.