2026

12 x 16in

Paper collage mounted on watercolor paper

7 of 9 from the THOUGHTS & PRAYERS Collection

This piece is an intrusive thought about the conflict between nature and capitalism, and the ways gentrification transforms communities under the banner of progress.

As long as I have lived in Inglewood, I have heard stories about what the city used to be. When longtime residents speak about their neighborhood, there is often a sense of grief in their voices, as though the place they knew still exists somewhere beneath the surface but can no longer be reached. The original city feels buried beneath luxury apartments, massive LED billboards, corporate development, and stadiums built to attract outside investment. What remains is a landscape that looks familiar but feels fundamentally altered.

What Inglewood is experiencing is not unique. This process is unfolding in cities across the world. Entire communities are being reshaped by economic forces that prioritize profit over preservation. Generations of history, culture, and memory are swept aside to make room for new construction, while the people who gave these places their identity are often pushed further toward the margins. The violence of gentrification is rarely physical, but it is violence nonetheless. It erodes community ties, displaces families, and slowly disconnects people from the places they once called home.

This composition questions who benefits from progress and who pays the cost. It is a reflection on the tension between growth and preservation, between economic expansion and cultural survival. Beneath every newly constructed cityscape are the stories of the people, neighborhoods, and ecosystems that existed before it. This work serves as a reminder that development is never neutral. Every new structure is built on top of something that came before it.