“I decided to commemorate my first visit to New York City by purchasing a set of “NY clothes” as a souvenir. This project supposes that there is only a finite amount of memories, so if I am going to actively pursue new memories, as is indicative of the NYC souvenir, then I should actively destroy previous memories. Of course one cannot control what they remember and how the memories are keyed into particular objects, but one can control what objects they have access to. I wore the NYC clothes below the clothes I came with, my “Kansas City clothes”, and during the three days of my visit I deconstructed the old clothes showing myself in my new “NY skin”. The title is a regional joke referring to the NY Strip Steak in contrast to the KC Strip Steak. I didn’t intend to compare myself to a cut of beef, but the name seemed appropriate. Again, a good example of making your artwork work for you. Vacations and shopping all of a sudden become venues and methodologies for art.”

— Statement about the work excerpted from my master’s thesis