I always found intense struggle when searching for community and a place to root myself and my artwork. Much of my experience with gender stems from dysphoria and the methods of treating it are beyond my financial capabilities, as is a common experience for many trans folks. Body modification, such as hair dyeing, piercings, and tattooing are an accessible way to feel at home in what often feels like a foreign body. When I discovered tattooing as a viable career, I saw the ways in which this art form plays a crucial part in transforming people’s lives. Tattooing and body modification are popular within the queer community and act as methods of reclamation in a culture that often suppresses ‘unacceptable’ differences. As an artist I see myself offering my skills as a service to help rehome people in their identity and bodies, specifically focusing on the queer community. Along with body modification, I’ve found nature to be an incredibly healing source. My work incorporates imagery from the natural world through direct, although stylized, representation and through abstract imagery such as biomorphic forms and illustrative elements. Saturated colors are key to my work. Pairing dark atmospheres with bright colors creates the warm and safe feeling that I find is a necessary part of healing and reclamation. As an aspiring tattoo artist, I allow historical and contemporary tattoo styles to influence my work. Much of my portfolio reflects traditional style tattooing as well as the abstract illustrative style seen in contemporary hand-poked tattoos. I draw from traditional style through bold lines, black shadows, bright colors and stylized figures, while my abstract graphite gradient work reflects my contemporary influences. Through the blending of traditional and non-traditional, abstract and illustrative, colorful and monochrome, I bring a variety of imagery and choices to the process of reclamation through body modification.