Being accepted to the Global Art Project residency in Lecce was one of those rare moments where everything converges — the right place, the right people, the right light. For two weeks, I lived and worked with 16 artists selected from France, Spain, Belgium, and the USA, in the very south-east of Italy, in a small baroque town that felt as though time had deliberately slowed down.

Lecce sits in the heart of Italy's Puglia region, framed by ancient stone the color of warm honey. Its cathedral square, the Piazza del Duomo, has a gravity you feel before you understand it — the double-façade basilica, the bell tower, the light bouncing off limestone that has absorbed centuries of sun. Walking through it every morning on the way to the studio changed how I thought about color.

I created mixed-media works — both solo pieces and collaborative work with fellow residents and had an amazing group exhibition and reception at the Palazzo.

"Take a Breath" serves as a sanctuary, inviting one to slow down and embark on an exploration within. In a world driven by constant motion, this exhibition offers respite — an opportunity to pause and immerse oneself in the tranquility that art can provide.

I have sought to distill the vibrant, ephemeral beauty of nature into abstract forms and colors. In these works, you will discover a symphony of emotions and sensations, just as one experiences when immersed in the great outdoors.

There is something quietly extraordinary about seeing your own work on a gallery wall in another country — knowing that a painting made in a Bay Area studio has traveled across the world to speak to strangers in an entirely different context.

The owner-curator of MRK Contemporary Gallery in Dubai extended an invitation to show my work in their elegant new space, exhibited alongside renowned UAE Emirati artists. In early March 2025, I visited the gallery and stood in front of my paintings displayed alongside the work of prominent Emirati artists — a moment of real cross-cultural exchange, the kind that reminds you why making art matters.