mineral siblings

This series of acrylic paintings and mixed media panels from 2016-17 was inspired by the similarities and the differences between human siblings and their mineral counterparts. Taking a page from the science of mineralogy, related minerals are shown together like children in a family portrait. Some canvases in the series give higher profile to unknown people than to their famous siblings. Unfamiliar faces are right-side up while familiar ones are upside down, literally turning on its head the notion that some people are worth more than others. Occasionally, strikingly different minerals such as diamond and graphite are polymorphs – that is, two forms of the very same chemical compound. Like blood brothers and sisters, despite their shared origins, they are virtually unrelated. Other works in the series focus on mineral twinning – a natural phenomenon that occurs when distinct crystals form in aggregates that look like conjoined twins. They are analogous to brothers and sisters who don't fall far from the tree (or from each other).