After my year abroad and returning to the US, it was difficult reintegrating into my prior life. I went through reverse culture shock and found that the last year at university was more focused on looking at how to return to Europe, keeping up with a long distance relationship, and coming up with work for the thesis exhibition. I began to make paintings from snapshots and the Polaroids taken in Europe. I considered ways of expressing dislocation. My trip to Germany in December was important. I used images of Christmas Pyramids and Surface Coal Mining Sites as visual symbols to express my feeling of longing.
