Create
Driven by a passion for creating and love of fabrication, I was driven to highly technical mediums like photography and engineering My creative endeavors are intricately linked with technology, whether it’s capturing a narrative through a meticulously crafted photograph or the to engineer an innovative solutions to pressing problems.
Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum
A concept that I only recently understood: new ideas don’t appear out of no where, they are built on top of other ideas. Many a scientists, Isaac Newton being one of them, said that their work was possible by “standing on the shoulders of giants.” Drawing from diverse career and life experiences along with a supportive circle, I gather the raw materials for inspiration in my ventures in engineering, art, and writing. This foundation enables me to explore realms of the fantastic and craft narratives that inspire.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a ‘tinkerer’ at heart, endlessly fascinated with unraveling how things work in order how to build innovative solutions to our biggest challenges. Inspired by engineers like Buckminster Fuller who innovate for global critical needs, I am driven to intimately understand the world around me through critical observation and intuition.
While I’ve spent my life as a “tinkerer”, I found my calling as an engineer through education as a makerspace manager—in fact officially titled “Tinkerer”— for the Ravenswood School District of East Palo Alto. There, thorough an enlightening collaboration with Stanford’s Fab Lab, I was introduced to the Design Process. Within this DIY, self-taught, Maker environment near Silicon Valley, I was easily drawn to blend my skills in geography and love for photography and explore the emergent field of drones.
Today, I stand at the helm of an innovation studio, where we’re harnessing the power of robotics for purposes as varied and vital as exploration, search and rescue, entertainment, and conservation. Each project is a step towards integrating innovative technology with real-world applications, fulfilling my lifelong aspiration to make a tangible, positive impact in this world and and for humanity.
“We speak erroneously of ‘artificial’ materials, ‘synthetics’, and so forth. The basis for this erroneous terminology is the notion that Nature has made certain things which we call natural, and everything else is ‘man-made’, ergo artificial. But what one learns in chemistry is that Nature wrote all the rules of structuring; man does not invent chemical structuring rules; he only discovers the rules. All the chemist can do is find out what Nature permits, and any substances that are thus developed or discovered are inherently natural. It is very important to remember that.”
-R. Buckminster Fuller
My art and photography are deeply intertwined with my background in geography and a passion for exploration. These disciplines converge to inform and inspire my visual narratives, infusing each piece with a sense of place and a deeper understanding of the world. Drawn to the profound task of capturing the essence of a subject in a short moment, my portrait photography goes beyond mere representation; it’s an intimate exploration of character, emotion, and story.
Art Series: Fragments
Captivated by the diverse, urban landscape of New York, I see patterns and juxtapositions of culture and human experience. Analog subway station billboards, endangered by their digital replacements, showcase subconscious communal masterpieces. Each piece composed of torn fragments of alternate realities embodying a collective 4D memory pattern etched into the landscape itself. Within the conversation of photojournalism and portraiture, these photographs paint a cultural caricature and engage in an archeological study of the community in which the billboards are found. Figures appear amongst the remnants, messages appear between the layers.
Fragments is a series that represents a 25 year study culminating in a collaboration with machine learning technology. This series explores community knowledge as well as reality itself.
Inspired by a medium who channeled a disembodied spirit, a forefather of the New Age, offering a glimpse into realms beyond our ordinary senses, I’ve unabashedly studied consciousness and reality and pondered the intricate dance between energy and information. These creations serve as an open invitation to a collective conversation, a journey of discovery and re-imagination of life and the universe.
Venturing into the realms of the unknown and the mysteries of consciousness, I find myself immersed in crafting narratives that invite exploration and provoke thought, dreaming up a podcast that delves into themes of creativity, consciousness, physics, and spirituality and offers a space for listeners to explore “The Space Between the Walls”.
Conservation and protecting the environment has anchored my passions for as long as memory serves. It wasn’t merely a concept but a call to action that I heeded even during my high school days, initiating a recycling program that pivoted not only on the re-use of paper but also on sourcing recycled materials. This early venture into sustainability was more than an eco-friendly activity; it was the seedling that would grow into a lifetime commitment to incorporating sustainable practices into all facets of my work and personal life.
Sustainability has threaded itself through my career, particularly in the design process. Sustainability guides my work in engineering and design, as I tackle the complexities of innovation while committed to preserving the environment I aim to safeguard. My tenure at Slipnot, a notable pivot point in my entrepreneurship journey, brought to light the tangible impact of incorporating novel energy storage technologies, effectively steering the advancement and deployment of renewable energy. It underscored the knowledge that to be environmentally astute in our creations, we must lean into scientific knowledge and technological innovation, ensuring our actions are tuned to their impacts on our planet.
Sustainability does not merely exist in the ether of energy solutions; it permeates every project and initiative I undertake. My pursuits in engineering solutions, particularly robotics, have been shaped with an environmentally-conscious lens, aiding conservation efforts and enriching scientific knowledge that, in turn, enlightens our understanding of environmental impacts. Actively advocating for and embedding sustainable practices within my work isn’t just a professional methodology. It’s a testament to a deeply rooted belief that our innovative pursuits and technological advancements must walk hand in hand with preservation and conscientious stewardship of our world.