From January to may 2025, I had the wonderful opportunity to be an artist in residence at the Impact Institute of Chicago. During this time I partnered with researcher Dennis Li to create work that translated his team's research on better implementing effective practices in HIV/AIDS treatment.

The first piece 'building better care' explores how with several effective tools to end the spread of HIV, the ACCELERATE program aims to get those treatments, prevention programs, and practices to those in need faster and more efficiently. Not needing to reinvent the wheel allows ACCELERATE to continue building on top of already existing successful programs and dismantle barriers overcomplicating care. This painting mirrors this process by literally carving away unnecessary pieces and further constructing atop pre-existing forms.

The second piece 'make care more consistent' focuses on projects CLEARS-HIV and CEASE-HIV’s goals to increase patient retention and overcome systemic barriers preventing people with complex needs from accessing long-term healthcare support, this comic utilizes a layered artmaking process to demonstrate the multifaceted social factors inhibiting people from reaching an undetectable HIV status. Rather than trying to circumnavigate a patient’s complex needs, CLEARS-HIV and CEASE-HIV address those issues directly through methods such as providing low-barrier walk-in clinic hours, financial counseling, personal case managers, transportation options, food, and financial incentives. When given this support the layered issues that once prevented a patient from receiving consistent access to healthcare can come into alignment and form a clear picture.