I tried to write poems in rhyme. I tried writing songs. Sometimes I jotted down a thought. I would keep a log of spontaneous thoughts.

When I was in the sixth grade my friend and I always won writing contests, and we read a lot of books. We were always the ones that read the most books in class. I thought about writing but visual arts weren't part of my vocabulary.

It's really hard when you read literature in a language that's not your own. There are all these cultural references you have to be born into that particular language to get.

I think that there are certain feelings and things you can convey in a simple form that people can see and understand.

I'm doing a collaborative project with another artist, Mary Hamill. My project is to gather the oral history of war widows, starting with the women of my village, Kop Nymit.

Even if you look in the dictionary you know the meaning of the word or phrase, but there's still the feeling of it.

I'm very connected to the story, the history, and the trauma people experience.