I’m right here with you
I’m right here with you (2023-present) is a series of drawings and narrative texts about the ephemerality of life, the immensity of love, and the duality of beauty and loss. Many of the texts are directed to my daughter, Elinor, and attempt to put into words my love for her alongside the weight and responsibility of parenthood. The title, I’m right here with you, is something I say to her during bedtime, particularly when she’s struggling. It is an acknowledgement that the best thing we can offer each other, during times of difficulty as well as joy, is our presence.
The project is comprised of 9” x 12” pencil drawings of flowers and plants, made each day in the early morning hours before Elinor awakes. I began making these drawings as a meditative practice, a way to begin my day with quiet presence. The process of carefully observing flowers and their life cycle allows me to reflect on things that are difficult to comprehend when thought about directly: time, impermanence, mortality, and love. Sometimes I draw things that I’ve bought, like tulips or lavender. Other times, I clip a few branches from the crepe myrtle bush or sweet gum tree in my backyard, a nod to the Midwestern landscape in which I reside. I’m especially fond of things that move and grow, like the amaryllis I drew dozens of times as it bloomed and shriveled before sending up another stalk that bloomed and shriveled again. Alongside the drawings, the project includes short narrative texts about my quest for presence, my love for Elinor, and the beauty and risk of loving deeply.
I’m right here with you is conceptualized as a long-term, large-scale body of work made over a period of several years. The finished project will take the form of a museum exhibition of drawings and texts, recorded in my voice as an audio soundtrack, as well as a book combining the drawings and texts in print form.
Below is a video of a selection of drawings and narrative texts.