I am a painter working between portraiture and abstraction to explore childhood, growing up, memory, and identity. My paintings are rooted in personal experience and often begin with a question I do not yet have the language for. I work from reference photographs, allowing the image to shift and break down as I paint. Abstraction becomes a way to reflect how memories are recalled as partial, emotional, and unresolved rather than exact. Painting is a slow and reflective process for me. I am interested in the emotional space of nostalgia, especially the tension between comfort and loss that comes with remembering childhood. My work draws from moments that feel both warm and heavy, where happiness and grief exist at the same time. Through fragmented figures, exaggerated colors, and blurred forms, I explore how identity is shaped over time and through memory I do not aim to create clear narratives or fixed images. Instead, I want the paintings to remain open, allowing viewers to bring their own experiences into the work. My goal is for the paintings to encourage reflection and emotional recognition, creating space for viewers to consider their own memories and the ways they continue to shape who they are.