Other work / Selected projects & independent ideas

A space for
what if.

Creative direction, community organizing, personal publications, and independent experiments. Work shaped by identity, imagination, and the people around me.

Creative direction / Case study

Blood, Sweat & Queers

A campaign exploring queer visibility in spaces of masculine discipline, from the ballet studio to the wrestling mat. The Bare Bag, a new design by Carlos Villapudua, becomes a symbol of what we carry and what we choose to reveal.

Produced with Lito’s Playground for the designer’s, Carlos Villapudua, The Bare Bag.

My role
Creative direction, concept development, and adapting the creative approach for production.

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 1

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 2

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 3

The brief

What we carry.
What we reveal.

The starting point was The Bare Bag, Carlos Villapudua’s transparent lambskin design. This bag is an object that makes the relationship between concealment and exposure tangible.

The brief centered people whose appeal comes from discretion and inner complexity. Its central idea was that choosing what to reveal can be as compelling as the revelation itself.

Reflection, vulnerability, mystery, and consensual voyeurism became the foundation for the campaign.

Original transparent lambskin bag brief, including the audience, desired belief, and creative themes — The original transparent lambskin bag brief.

The creative response

Discipline, intimacy,
and visibility.

I imagined openly gay men fully occupying spaces associated with masculine discipline. The direction was physical, sensual, and imperfect... a “bruised fruit” aesthetic that held beauty and strain together.

In each scene, the bag would hold the objects of someone’s life. Its transparency made it more than a prop, it connected physical exposure to the personal act of being seen.

The ballet studio

Perfect form, imperfect feet. Repetition, calluses, and a dancer’s reflection reveal the effort behind the performance.

The football locker room

Impact and anticipation. Taped fingers, chalked hands, and sustained eye contact bring intimacy into a space built for contact.

The boxing ring

Beauty and force. A flamboyant boxer’s composure and strength challenge the assumption that softness means weakness.

The wrestling mat

Competition and closeness. Tangled bodies and a direct gaze make queer intimacy central to the frame.

From concept to production

Four environments.
One focused approach.

The original concept called for four distinct environments. A restricted budget and limited location options meant rethinking the production.

I brought the ballet and wrestling concepts together in one location, using their shared physical discipline to keep the story intact. That decision concentrated the visual direction on bodies, tension, and intimacy rather than spreading the production across multiple sets.

The outcome

Blood, sweat,
and the choice to be seen.

The resulting photographs bring the bag into close contact with the body, balancing strength and vulnerability. The production constraints sharpened the campaign’s focus and made the “bruised fruit” direction more intimate.

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 4

View the complete campaign +

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 5

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 6

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 7

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 8

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 9

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 10

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 11

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 12

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 13

Blood, Sweat & Queers campaign photograph 14

Personal publication

Cuentas & Stories

A zine about how my background, environment, and personal archive shaped my identity.

Developed alongside my thesis, it explores how speculative fiction helped me tell stories grounded in the facts of my life and how communal mutual aid made that imagining possible.

Our stories are more than what the archive has documented — Cuentas & Stories

View the full project gallery +

Visual exploration

Cuhnti

Cuhnti is a word I invented as a principle for people living in a community rooted in mutual aid and feeling good about it.

It brings together three words that hold meaning in my life: cuh, cunt, and contigo. These visual and motion studies explore that idea.

Watch the motion studies +

Community organizing

Mutual Aid ATX

I helped create Mutual Aid ATX alongside other organizers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests following George Floyd’s murder. Together, we raised substantial funds to support our community.

That work reflects my belief that mutual aid is a shared responsibility. Mutual aid means showing up for one another, pooling resources, and trusting people to understand their own needs. It’s a practice of solidarity that continues to shape how I think about community, storytelling, and the work I put into the world.

View the full project gallery +

Student campaign · 2020

Simona & Lynn 2020

I was the content and marketing lead for Simona & Lynn’s student presidential campaign at UT Austin.

I created all of the campaign illustrations and developed its color palette and typography (alongside designers), bringing a consistent visual identity to the campaign’s content and marketing.