What I do:

I make art about what provokes me as I travel. Every city and landscape is a shift of perspective, new languages, and the dissonance between old assumptions and new realities.

I explore the tensions between evolving cultures in my life and work, and was invited to talk about it at TEDx in Bangkok

Making paper in Thailand

I make Cyanotypes, one of the earliest forms of photography. Also called Blueprints, Cyanotypes were once how architects reproduced their drawings. 

I make books – see some of them here. 

I connect people with art through my projects.

I tailored my artwork to suit a nomadic life, and developed a unique way of making Cyanotype photo prints – all they require are sunlight and iron salts. Sometimes they don't even need a camera.

What I'm working on:

I've just moved to Beijing (the most exciting city for art in Asia  and beyond), and plan to be based here for up to 5 years.

My illustrated travel book of stories about paper in Southeast Asia, and the people who make it, is finally finished! The book will be released by ThingsAsian press in late 2012.

Another dream I'm working on is the transformation of an old Sicilian warehouse into a creative studio. Selected creatives who work with paper are invited to spend time working in the town of Cianciana.

Entrance to Studio Sicilia

 

How I got here:

 

My first taste of solo travel was the hardest: after working a year of 40-to 60-hour weeks during my painting degree, I saved up enough to embark on an independent study abroad art and language program in France.

After graduation I stumbled onto an accidental internship at the Liverpool Biennial Fringe festival, and worked as a sculpture apprentice in Tuscany, then did what every American artist is supposed to do: moved to New York. There I worked with artists' and photographers' portfolios, but  wanted to be challenged every day by what I saw and experienced on the streets around me. So eventually I decided to satisfy my curiosity about another part of the world: Asia.

Zipping through the jungle in Laos

I crash-landed in Korea to teach Art and English, and was soon convinced to forsake my ban on boyfriends by a handsome Englishman I later married on a Thai beach.

Then I moved to Cambodia to teach photography to children and ended up working with the Angkor Photo Festival.

Still on the move, I relocated to Hong Kong, where I founded a community gallery and fulfilled a dream: to illustrate a children's book.

While Italy's stolen my heart, Asia's changing so fast it gives me whiplash, and keeps me here.

Stay in touch

Keep up with me here on the blog by email or RSS, and you can write me any time here.