kb. SOCORRO

A California native, I was raised in a time when the agricultural roots of Santa Clara County overlapped with the birth of Silicon Valley. The unique dichotomy of spending time playing in fruit orchards as well as Hangar One was not lost on me. While I held a deep curiosity for science fiction and was an early adopter of digital media, I also spent time sketching and collecting any natural ephemera I could carry home. These two themes have followed me down every path in life.

Frequent moves throughout my life led to an interest in observing community interactions both online and off. I explored these ‘worlds’ through journaling and photography moving from traditional paper to online formats. Although I attended a university arts program this was before the advent of computer labs. Working after hours on a borrowed computer in a friend’s office I started hand coding websites for hypertext fiction and altered image libraries. Digital mediums were simply more accessible when I couldn’t physically manage anything else.

This intersection of technology and artful expression became the underlying foundation for my current work in mapping environments. Still heavily influenced by narrative storytelling, I’m attempting to break the fourth wall between viewer and artist through experimental presentations. As a person with disabilities I’ve embraced more flexible ways of creating by challenging internalized assumptions of what defines artistic mediums. Curiosity is the truly most empowering adaptive tool we have at hand.