This piece takes the form of a totem, a vertical structure traditionally used to hold family lineage, memory, and protective symbols. Reimagined in a contemporary context, it reflects a life shaped by change, passage, and distinct stages of becoming.

From bottom to top, the work unfolds as an evolution of fragments—shifting patterns built through different clays and surface approaches, including sgraffito, paper resist, and monoprint. Each layer marks a different moment in time, where material and gesture become traces of lived and inherited histories.

Rather than a fixed narrative, the totem functions as a layered record of transformation. It holds cultural memory while also reflecting personal migration and adaptation, where identity is not static but accumulated, porous, and continuously reassembled.

2026

Mixed clay bodies, steel, wood

20×20×72 in.