Humans interact with nature in a peculiar way.  Most of this behavior is based on survival instincts, a sense of entitlement, and corporate financial gain. The damage that we do to the earth and other living beings ultimately affects us in one way or another. The distance that we have placed between the natural world and ourselves makes it easy for people to disregard our impact as a species. My work represents our efforts, successful and unsuccessful, to empathize with the natural world. In these works, animals appear dignified even though they are maimed and diseased; Humans try in vain to care for animals in ways that make no sense. All of this is done with a sense of tenderness and humor mixed with the grotesque.  Reminding the viewer that the act of trying to nurture, care for, and grow something is important, even if it seems like unfamiliar territory.