In my work, I animate and amplify gossip — all of the family lore my mother has whispered into my ear, in bits and pieces, over decades. I take my mother’s versions of stories and investigate them by gathering accounts from other relatives, from friends of family, and through any available historical records. I then diptych these gathered narratives against staged portraits.

My family of narrators are contested sources. Their stories sometimes bump against the boundaries of realism or shift depending on the teller’s mood, shrink or expand according to whichever ear is listening. There are secrets and lies and truths all rolled into various accounts. This is the oral tradition. The way lineage is shared. The way our tongues move to document place and presence. The way we remember who we are.