About

I grew up in a lilac-filled suburb outside of Boston until my family moved to Ethiopia when I was in middle school. The cross-cultural experience began a lasting love of journaling as I explored my new surroundings, met new people, and traveled East Africa.

I returned to the US to attend boarding school and graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English. I also spent time studying abroad in Milan, Italy at the Università Cattolica where I focused on Art History. Our classroom was only a few blocks away from La Ultima Cena (The Last Supper) by Leonardo DaVinci.

During the program, we read paintings as literature and I became fascinated by Chiaroscuro, the process of using light and shadow to make a painting look three dimensional or set a foreboding tone—a technique often found in the works of Caravaggio and Rembrant.

Today, Chiaroscuro effects can be found in cinema and even 3D printing. Imagine you’re watching a movie, the light shines on a character’s face, and the mis-en-scenè fades to black. The light and shadow allow the painter (or cinematographer) to bring the audience’s attention to the situation at hand, whether it be an angel flying in defiance, or 14th century men fighting at a pub.

I have been fortunate to work on some wonderful, international projects that allowed me to translate Chiaroscuro into language and shine a light on subjects that may have otherwise been relegated to the shadows.