Hello and welcome, my name is Sydney and this is my project, Agnes Elmwood.

I was born and raised in rural Vermont. At age 20, I moved to Osaka, Japan where I lived for 6 months before returning to finish my degree at the University of Vermont. After graduation, I moved to Japan for 12 more months, before moving back to the states where I currently live and work in Alexandria, Virginia.

While Vermont and Japan are vastly different, both places have committed to preserving their natural beauty through strict preservation. I began to recognize a profound complexity about human behavior. What is preservation in the face of exponential growth and fierce industrialization?

Agnes Elmwood is the surreal extension of how I felt in adolescence. When the world around her warps to an unrecognizable degree, she allows it to envelope her in its absurdity. Through this lens I am able to explore existential and environmental dread in my art.