My work has been developed around images that reflect upon aspects of family and place in an Australian context. It has looked at the past to comment upon the family in contemporary Australian society. The starting point is my own family's situation in Australia during the Second World War. Consequently it uses memory as a starting point. It explores historical circumstances, cultural aspirations and the impacts of political and social change on my family and the implications of this. Each work contains a story about place and people. These narrative threads form a layered experience about human migration, identity and survival. I would hope that they encourage people to think about the myriad constructions of home and community that constitute our global family. I have used family photographs from early 20th century Sicily and Australia.

I am interested in colour and explorations of surface to communicate my feelings in painting. Influences have been the early work of Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning, Chuck Close and the portraits of the Chinese painter Xiaogang Zhang. I am interested in finding links to my Sicilian heritage, and contemporary painting in Sicily.

I obtained a degree in Visual Arts at the Australian National University, National Institute of the Arts with First Class Honours in 2001. Prior to this, I attended private life-drawing classes with David Paulson in Brisbane for a number of years. I then spent 2 years at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney, specialising in figurative drawing and painting. In addition to this I have extensively used photography as an adjunct to painting.

I have had two solo shows and have participated in a number of group exhibitions. I am travelling to broaden my view of the world, and am especially interested in visiting Italy to strengthen my ties to Sicily. I want to learn more about Italian life and culture. I want to learn about the country my grandfather came from and how it exists today.