Istanbul Etchings
I visited Mexico for the first time in 2012 through UNT to do research for my MFA thesis. I made a series of prints and drawings of street vendors and performers, a profession and lifestyle that is not often seen in the US. When I was an artist in residence in Istanbul in 2015, I was struck by the kindness and acceptance of the people I met and I was taken aback by the similarities of Turkish and Mexican cultures. In my residency, I learned Turkish paper marbling, called Ebru, meaning “cloud” in Turkish. I was fascinated by the 800-year-old process and made a series of etchings of individuals I encountered in the streets of Istanbul using the Ebru paper I made as chine collé.