This work is an ongoing exploration of the transient symbols of the American hobo.

 

These cryptic marks that were traditionally left by transient workers traveling on the freight trains, most commonly during the great depression, were a means of communication.  These symbols, scratched onto fences, carved into wood, or drawn on sidewalks, acted as a visual code of warnings, welcomes, and hard-won wisdom.

 

Through paintings and sculptures I am giving form to to these ephemeral signs and reinterpret these marks in layered textures and abstract compositions, drawing on weathered surfaces and faded graffiti as both aesthetic and conceptual foundations.

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 Each work becomes a meditation on movement, memory, and marginalization.

This body of work invites viewers to decode a forgotten language, to see the ingenuity in the overlooked, and to reflect on themes of displacement, mutual aid, and coded solidarity. 

 

By resurrecting these symbols from the fringes of history, I aim to create a bridge between past and present, prompting questions about who gets remembered, who gets marked, and how we read the stories left behind.