Last year at the start of ninth grade I left public high school in Amherst, MA, due to daily queerbashing and lack of support from the faculty. I now fall somwhere under the category "QAR   HOME schooled," but am by no means taught at QAR   HOME by my parents. I spend my days taking classes at local colleges, writing, going to museums and the library, hanging out with friends, working long hours on my zine, "UP," and, yeah, you guessed it, making art. I've never had an official show, but all those who know me are well acquainted with my artwork and how much it means to me.

Art is the primary way for me to explore and explain my roles in society, in my family and in the world at large. I work in many media-- photography, painting, ceramics, collage, sculpture, film, video, zines and more. Almost all of it is self-portraiture in some way, whether it's my camera physically turned to face me or bright pink wooden structures. Some recent pieces deal with gender and my experience growing up female and queer in this culture. With this comes butch/femme and harassment for not looking enough "like a girl." In addition to pieces with more obvious queer content, my work deals with things like family relationships, childhood abuse, and navigating adolescence. Documenting my experience in many parts of life as artwork is important to me as a way of expressing what I undergo and as a tool to connect with other people.