Artist Statement

This is a series of ten oil portrait paintings and smaller works on paper representing multi-generational families from Brooklyn’s various ethnic groups. The exhibit includes selected drawings and artist books. The histories of my subjects enter into the paintings. I have interviewed my subjects and intertwined their histories into the backgrounds of their portraits.

The subjects and their families are Pakistani, Haitian, Puerto Rican, Hungarian, Guyanese, African-American, Chinese, Japanese, Polish and Czech. The selection of these families was an organic process involving people I already knew whose lives fascinated me because of how
their personal lives intersected with history, and how that history affects who they are today.