From 2004-2006, I lived in Quillin, a rural community in the Ecuadorian Andes, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. In 2023, I took a part-time job as a campus Peace Corps recruiter, and was immediately overwhelmed by the memories of that time. Since then, my studio practice has reckoned with that intensely beautiful and difficult time in pieces that combine materials in unexpected ways. Recognizable images and patterns emerge in some places and are obscured in others, materially expressing the moments of clarity and understanding that develop as an individual adjusts to a confusing new environment and language.

Maria and Jhoana are two of a three piece series, Tres Marias, inspired by photos of girls I worked with in the elementary school in town, who had dressed up for the Christmas posada. The pieces also incorporate visual references to the “three sisters” method of growing the corn, squash and beans that everyone in Quillin depended upon for sustenance, as well as the sky, land and waterways of the Andes.