Carl Vine’s Five Bagatelles were written in 1994. The fifth bagatelle (not included in this performance), was written when Vine was asked by the Australian National AIDS Trust to play at their 1994 fund-raising dinner.

Tsugaru Jonkara Bushi is a traditional Japanese composition meant to be performed on the shamisen, a traditional Japanese lute. Often it begins with a section known as choushi awase, in which the performer strikes the open strings to not only tune but also to indicate the start of a performance. The rest of the performance then follows, each divided into small sections that carry different levels of musical significance.

Felicidade, a bossa nova classic composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim, is an energetic, rhythmic piece that represents many aspects of the Brazilian spirit.

Self isolation, and self love, when loving someone and something else becomes to big of a task.

The Britten Cello Suites were dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich, one of my favorite cellists, whose recording of this I have listened to countless of times.

Although many concertos focus on virtuosity--seeking to display an artist's technical prowess--one of Barber's concerto's beautiful aspects is how it focuses on emotion and expression. The second movement is a religious experience of sorts--pushing artists to find a way to transfer the feeling of an otherworldly experience for the listener.

This is a cover of Kenny Barron's Magic Dance. The piece holds a special place in my heart, as Barron's playing inspires me to reach new expressive heights. I've had the pleasure of learning from Barron at the Stanford Jazz Institute, and his instruction has instilled in me the importance of humility and connection that is at the core of jazz.

The concept behind my photo was inspired by Walt Whitman's poem entitled "Song of Myself." Whitman discusses the importance of appreciating the world in its natural beauty. How this is the only way we as people can achieve true happiness. With the new technological advancements we have made in the past couple decades, I rarely see people admiring something as simple as a spear of grass penetrating the water surface. In this, it is easy to forget that we were created above the earth and we will die beneath the earth, and as we decompose, the bodies we leave behind will be the fuel and nutrients for new life. “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.” I think of death fondly, for in its rebirth, my bones will feed the worms who create the dirt that will be carried on the boot-soles of my great grandchildren for generations to come. This cyclic and wonderful world is something to be cherished and appreciated. This picture captures a woman who has recently passed. As she looks into the pond, she does not see her reflection, she has died. But, she does see the water, the soil, the leaves quivering in the wind. The fact that she is dead does not concern her, for she knows she will be immortalized in all of the nature that surrounds her.

While I was stuck waiting out the rain with some friends I decided to take a photo of one of them standing out in the rain.

This piece was part of a series for UCSF's Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building. The series was created during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic and I used photography as a creative outlet and to build a community during that isolation.

This piece is a response to my current sustained investigation which explores an outsider's point of view. This particular image was shot early in the morning and depicts an empty diner, illuminated on the inside. I thought the shot exemplified my inquiry topic well -- being an outsider, looking into a lit space in the dark of night. I used 35mm 800 iso color film and used Photopea to adjust the scan's levels and hues.

This diptych explores the psychological effects of expectations put on women’s appearances. When we focus too much on maintaining a perfect image we lose sight of our worth and identity. We can become trapped behind a mask of makeup, cute clothes, and our instagram profile. It doesn’t help that advertising and social media target women and maintain toxic standards. This is devastating for one’s mental health. With this piece, I hope to raise awareness and encourage others to break free from the harmful cycle.

I created this photo over the summer. I was in my backyard hitting baseballs when I realized that this could be an interesting photo to look at. I took the photo and made a few edits.

This is a photo of two explorers that have stumbled across a giant figure frozen in the ice. I photograph legos and try to make scenes that are inaccesible orcannot be made in the larger world. To make this photo, I froze a giant lego figure in a container in my freezer. Then, I took a patterned sheet, the frozen lego giant, and two lego mini-figures and set them up in a closet. I added a color light and put the sheet under the ice to make the environment look like a cave. Then, I took the photo.

I like to capture ordinary, every day things but in a way that allows people to see the beauty in them. In other words, I like to capture the world in a natural, unstaged way by using angles, lighting, framing techniques, and focus to accentuate the unique characteristics of the object pr scene. This picture was no exception; it is a ceiling above a busy airport shuttle that wasn't designed to be looked at like a piece of art. I love the symmetry in the architecture, the repeating lines in the ceiling, and the reflection of the light on the hand rail.

I went on a roof. I climbed a tree. I stood in the shower in complete darkness and proceeded to blind myself with my camera's flash. The Fool’s Journey—the story told through the 22 Major Arcana cards of a 78-card tarot deck—follows the Fool as he meets a diverse cast of characters that guide him on his travels, a metaphor for the human life. Each of my cards—here displayed in a single sheet—corresponds in name and number to the Major Arcana, but each card’s original design has been reshaped into my own vision. I often diverge from the typically accepted “meaning” of the cards, superimposing onto this centuries-old tradition not only my personal artistic style but also my own metaphorical and symbolic truth. The Fool is an everyman: he represents all those who look to him in hopes of understanding our own existences. However, the same can be said of the rest of the Major Arcana’s personages, onto whom I have imposed anonymity. I ask now, If you are the Fool, am I your Magician? If I am the Fool, who are you to me? Out of this emptiness, we must define who is our Empress, our Hierophant, our Sun. Just as in our lives as a whole, in the blacked-out silhouettes of this series, it’s up to us to determine who we are, how we relate to the world around us, and where we’re going in our own Fool’s Journey. (I’m the Fool; I almost fell off the roof.)

This summer I spent two weeks traveling the West Coast and camping in Kent, Washington as a student of the MLK Jr. Freedom Center on the To Us You Matter Civic Engagement Tour. After experiencing deep internal learning there, my mom and brother picked me up to go into Tacoma. One day we spent Tribal Canoe Journeys on the Muckleshoot reservation with my cousin. As she walking us to our car, she mentioned camping the next night in Oregon for a ceremony and invited me. Saying yes was one of the best spontaneous decisions I've made. On this trip, I was privileged with the opportunity to experience my Indigenous and Chicana culture meaningfully and how it’s sustained through Aztec dance and Chicana scholars like my cousin, Mayelli. The early morning drive from Tacoma to Cape Lookout directly on the Oregon Coast served as a meaningful, bonding moment for Mayelli and I as we discussed the past two weeks, her life as an Indigenous STEM student in Seattle, and social issues we've analyzed in the world we navigate. At the beach, I felt the community of Danza Azteca and that part of her community. After a night of special moments and sleeping with the Pacific Ocean, I captured this intergenerational moment of Mayelli being cleansed with copal by an Indigenous healer. I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to embrace family and culture profoundly and freshly. This moment captures the lifetime of dedication Mayelli has put to dancing and cultural survival.

This portrait is one of my favorite photos I have taken. My goal in taking this photo was to represent sadness in a young woman. When people look at the photo I want them to interpret it differently based on their hardships when they were young adults. I took this photo in the bathtub with my neighbor who often models for my portraits. In this process, I tried many different angles to find the one I liked the best. I also used a bathroom to make the water appear a pinkish purple color. I have found that portraits are my favorite types of photos to take

At first glance, someone may look at this decaying building and not think much. But I find that the contrast between the natural beauty of the blue water vs. the broken windows, rusting metal and vandalism actually creates something really eye-catching. I've explored a lot of abandoned places in the Bay Area and taken a lot of pictures, but I chose this one specifically because I like the main visual interest of the graffiti face. The eyes seemed to stare at me while standing in this spot and I knew I had to take a pic.The lines seem to point at the face and the sun streaming on the floor adds something more to it. I edited the colors slightly, given it a warmer, more rustic-tone.

I wanted to capture the movement of the flowing water in a distinctive form. The long exposure creates flowing lines that direct your eyes upstream, showing how the water churns all the way down the river. I used a polarizer filter to reduce reflections on the water, allowing the natural colors of the riverbed to show through the calmer areas of the river. The photo is shot on medium format color slide film, to achieve a high level of detail.