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Artist Statement: the in-between Personality is continuously shaped through associations with people in our immediate environment and our perceptions of the world. In a nation established on immigration many of us are products of cross-pollination and are caught among several cultures. Habits, stories and traditions from various groups are passed from one generation to the next and most of these things transform over time through a subtle metamorphosis. One of the results is a magnitude of assumption made about others based on a pre-constructed interpretation. My artwork is driven by a fascination with the invisibility of such transmutations and its affect on our society as a whole. Growing up with a mother from Thailand and a father who is Caucasian American (Appalachian), I explore the alterations seen in personal history and the American culture. Overall, exploring heritage is a rich journey, particularly in a time when social equality and ethnic recognition are prominent political topics. The dreamy quality of the pinhole camera distorts the sense of scale of the landscape and the dioramas. Likewise, the primitive quality of the camera contrasts a current obsession with technical advancement. Cutting out various shapes of figures or objects and placing them in front of the photograph from which they came makes it seem as if they have stepped out of time to confront the viewer. The duplication of characters is similar to the retelling of the stories and the open silhouette holes are analogous to the vacant cultural histories of the displaced. Subsequent generations, such as my own, find themselves in-between imagination and the real world in order to put pieces together to build understanding and define distinction.