Preserve draws on one of my most painful memories, a period of true hardship that helped shape who I am today. No constant, external source of happiness exists in our world: though love, family, friends, school, and religion provide wonderful life experiences for thousands, they can just as easily lead to addictions, negligence, abuse, and war. My work narrows in on the ever-prevailing concept of love, and in particular, its darker side. Some of my deepest scars are from a past relationship of abuse, that not only started taking away my life, but also my awareness of myself and the world around me; using the old colloquialism, one could say I was blinded by love.

Just like I was oblivious to the toxic effects of my relationship, problems facing others also often go unrecognized and keep spreading slowly until they infect every part of the individual’s life. Therefore it cannot be emphasized enough that the first step to solving any problem is to precisely identify it, so it can be treated appropriately. The saran wrap, a transparent, thin, weak material, is a perfect metaphor for unrecognized problems: transparent because they are overlooked, and quite easy to tear and remove once noticed, yet suffocating and deadly if unobserved.

It also is universally associated with preservation, which ties beautifully to what the work means to me: it represents an acceptance and embrace of my past pain, and will hopefully encourage others to do the same. It is never the easy times that shape us into who we are; after all, it is only after suffering thousands of years under extreme pressures and temperatures that carbon turns into a diamond. And we are all diamonds in the rough: our negative experiences go a long way in teaching us who we are and who we should be, so in the end, we shine the brightest we possibly can. So instead of trying to forget difficult times and problems, like many of us do, through my work I suggest they be embraced, learned from, and remembered.