Seeds of My Story
I am an artist-scholar exploring how information systems, accessibility, and creative practice intersect. My work emerges from a deep commitment to understanding how we organize, access, and imagine the world differently.
Photography first taught me to see. What began as a way to document the world around me transformed into something far more intentional: a practice of observation, of noticing what's overlooked, and of using visual language to ask hard questions about who and what we make space for. Through my art, I've discovered a powerful tool for processing, healing, and reimagining what's possible. I work primarily with Lightroom, where I process and organize visual narratives. I'm currently expanding my practice into TouchDesigner, where I'm exploring how digital media and interactive design might create more equitable experiences, particularly through haptic systems designed with blind users.
My background in Library and Information Science grounds this work. As a graduate student in the MLIS program at San José State University's iSchool, I've learned that how we organize information is never neutral. It reflects values, assumptions, and often, exclusions. This knowledge shapes everything I create. Whether I'm designing a digital installation or curating a research project, I think carefully about access, who the work reaches, and how design choices can either reinforce barriers or dissolve them.
My commitment to this work is personal. My father, who is blind, earned his bachelor's degree in social work in the 1980s long before screen readers existed. He taught himself to build systems that worked for him, and he sustained his own artistic voice through filmmaking, documenting our family's history on video for more than thirty years. My mother, a medical assistant, showed me how systems like healthcare can exclude the most vulnerable. Together, they instilled in me a conviction that equity requires imagination. At 15, when I faced the possibility of losing my vision, this conviction deepened. That moment didn't close doors; it opened them, reshaping how I imagine my future and what I want to contribute.
Today, my work bridges these worlds. I'm exploring how TouchDesigner can be used to design haptic systems for blind and low-vision users. I serve as the Assistant Programming Director for the Special Libraries Association student chapter at SJSU. Beyond my academic work, I'm committed to structural change in the Central Valley. I'm part of the first HOPE Regional Leadership Institute cohort in the Valley, collaborate with a CalFresh committee on food policy and expanding access to resources, and recently became a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster youth. In Fall 2025, I was awarded a scholarship for my project "Reimagining AI-Driven Library Systems Through Blind Users' Lived Experiences."
The Archive Garden is where all of this lives. It's both portfolio and creative sanctuary. Here you'll find research, digital artwork, experiments, and pieces still unfolding. Some work is polished; some is still growing. Together, they document how I navigate the world as an artist-scholar, and what it means to create with intention toward equity.