I’ve always loved antiques. For as long as I can remember, I’ve collected pieces with a storied past — and I’ve romantically inserted myself in those stories. I’ve collected old train tickets and romanticized what it must have been like to take a ride. I’ve salvaged old books, musty with meaning and tattooed with notes in the margin — scripts that would make my breath stop in my chest.

A few years ago, I started painting figures on my favorite relics. What was already rare and hard to come by became more special, to me, with the addition of original art. I use the women in my paintings to tell my stories — they embody all of the drama and emotion that these precious books and papers evoke in me.

I’ve poached these precious pieces from the past, and I’ve lost myself in them. It’s my hope that you find something of yourself in them, that collecting these paintings makes you feel seen. They’re your stories now.