The words of Yayoi Kusama speak directly to my approach: “Every time I have a problem, I have confronted it with the ax of art.” I feel driven to use art as a vehicle to promote awareness, spark dialogue, and encourage action in support of women and the LGBT communities whose basic rights are being curtailed in a severe conservative backlash.

My sister is a trans woman who now lives in fear of the phobic backlash taking place on the streets and in the legislatures towards transgender individuals. So I first took my artistic ax behind a video camera to create an award-winning documentary film, The Ties That Bind, (2017—now streaming on PBS NC), about my own family’s response to her gender transition.