I am an artist based in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Born in Leeds, United Kingdom, I relocated to the USA as a young teenager and completed my education in Washington State.

I graduated from Tacoma School of the Arts, a public high school in Tacoma WA, where I briefly studied illustration, painting, and photography from 2007-2010. Unable to pursue a university degree, I jumped into working full-time at age eighteen and acquired multiple positions within the screen printing industry from 2009-2016, then worked as a barista from 2016-2020, all while creating art in any spare time I had. I took the leap to focus on Altered Books in 2020 and now work out of my home studio in Bratislava.

I stumbled into Altered Books around 2012 after first experimenting with a collection of water-damaged novels, found in the streets of Seattle, and gradually discovered my own way to use discarded books. I continue to experiment today, now using novels, sketchbooks, and journals from various people and places.

I’m inspired by many things, though my fascination with myths, poetry, the moon, philosophy and psychology, all influences my work in some way. 

I’m interested in bringing paper to life, similar to the way words do in our minds as we read, and using stories to deeper understand the world and ourselves in relation to it.

Throughout time storytelling has been embraced as a way to help us briefly escape reality, to inspire, and to share our life experiences. With this in mind, I aim to highlight the impact they can have on our emotional well-being and sense of self, as well as explore the value of sharing who we are with each other. My hope is to create a sense of connection with those who also look at the world from within, and to contemplate the ways in which we reconcile our inner life with the world outside us.