I just submitted my first grant application. I won’t find out if I am rewarded the grant until October, but either way, it was an excellent experience. It helped me to reflect on and synthesize my intentions and my purpose. The process itself was fulfilling. I wrote an artist statement for the first time, and figured I should share 🙂

“The only real concern of the artist [is] to recreate out of the disorder of life that order which is art.” – James Baldwin

In Washington we are constantly inundated with sounds: Obama’s helicopters zipping over the Washington Channel, police cruisers blaring sirens, buses grumbling down streets, air conditioners toiling away in humid summers. 

Sound pollution is real, so it’s easy to forget that sound vibrations are also healing. When I sing, I rediscover the artistic order of sound, tapping into its restorative properties. From a young age, this is what impelled me to open my mouth and make sound, feeling it reverberate through my cells and out into a room reminded me how alive I am.

My approach to music is rooted in its cathartic and palliative potential. Through writing and vocalizing I am able to be honest and vulnerable, to examine my mistakes and triumphs, the minutia and grandeur. I am able to be self-congratulatory and self-forgiving. Writing lets me attend to pain and ecstasy, becoming liberated in the process. My songs are a way to excavate sensory memories and dreams, giving them a life outside of my head, so that others can see their stories reflected in mine.