Maintenance Actions

The playlist I’m sharing for this exhibition accompanied my 2024 MFA thesis exhibition So Far So Far.

Music has always been a huge part of my life. My first playlists were handmade mixtapes—songs from tapes, CDs, and the radio recorded onto blank cassettes. I still remember the first CD I bought: the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack. My love of music got me my first job at a chain music store called Coconuts. In college, my connection to music grew when I had a radio show on WSPN, Skidmore College Radio. 

In 2009, I was working as a designer and art director at a tiny fashion branding agency in New York when an art director told me about a new Swedish platform where you could listen to whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. I made my first Spotify playlist in early 2010. Days spent designing at the computer were, from then on, accompanied by an endless stream of new music, and I was enamored with the possibilities.

I sometimes hate how much I love Spotify. Artists don’t get paid what they should, and the algorithm can be frustratingly narrow and repetitive. But it’s integral to my creative practice. I make playlists to accompany new bodies of work, which help me access a state of focus where the invisible is made real. 

*Images and words taken directly from the artist’s website with permission.