Departure (Forthcoming)

Departure, 2026. Backlit print of original mixed-media collage (acrylic, charcoal, hand-embroidery, and ink) in lightbox, 7 x 5’ each panel of triptych
Location: Hollywood Burbank Airport, Los Angeles, CA

The title of this work draws attention to the points from which pioneers have fixed their sightlines upon seemingly unlikely possibilities, persevered toward their life’s purpose, and thus paving the runways for the ones who follow. This work serves as an homage to women in aviation—these ones who pursued the skies as profession. Departure holds both literal and figurative connotations. It describes the plane’s motion as it physically leaves the ground during takeoff, while also commemorating aviation trailblazer Amelia Earhart’s departure from this life after her disappearance over the Pacific Ocean during her attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 1937.

The first panel depicts a courageous, tenacious, and dignified Earhart, who helped found the Ninety-Nines, an international organization that was created to support female pilots in 1929, before becoming the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. In 1937, Ms. Earhart departed from Burbank Airport with a persistent ambition, attempting her around-the-world flight in her Electra 10E, NR16020 airplane, which was manufactured by the Lockheed Aircraft Company that was also located in Burbank, California.

On the third panel, Ellen Church stands proudly among The Original Eight upon the wings of Ms. Earhart’s Electra 10E. Born in 1904, Ms. Church served as a nurse while dreaming of becoming a pilot. When she found that her womanhood hindered her chances for the opportunity to do so, she convinced Boeing Air Transport to relieve the public’s fear of flying by assigning nurses to their airplanes. Ms. Church paved the path as the world’s first female flight attendant in 1930—the same year that the Hollywood Burbank Airport opened—before developing a training program for the first airline attendants, who are known as The Original Eight. Later in her career, Ms. Church was awarded an Air Medal for her service as a flight nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during World War II.

Also recognizing the astounding human intelligence that has allowed us to create these carrier birds to transport us to distance through space and time, a flock of red-crowned parrots take flight as the inspiration for this inventive feat. The Tri-cities’ renowned parrots are ubiquitous to southern California and illustrate an upward movement that further describes aviation and social progress as spearheaded by these celebrated women in history. They soar alongside our flight leaders through clustering wind barbs—these symbols that are used by meteorologists to signify wind speed and wind direction on weather maps, which allow pilots to safely plan efficient flights. As a foundation for innovation and the rigorous labor that serves the vision for progress, this monumental time in aviation advancement is built upon the blue prints of the Lockheed’s Electra 10E, its flight instruments and gauges guiding these pioneers and the ones to come.