Questions are where every project begins.

Each initiative explores the relationship between people and institutions through a different medium and include anthropology, visual storytelling, digital scholarship, public art, and community advocacy. The questions that interest me rarely belong to a single discipline. The most meaningful insights often emerge at the intersections — where different ways of seeing challenge, inform, and expand one another. Together, they examine how different ways of seeing can deepen understanding and inspire change.

The journey to Hart Island begins long before arrival at this ferry landing.

THE WORK OF RETURN

The Work of Return is a short film piece that examines how institutional systems shape memory, absence, and dignity after death — and how advocacy can interrupt bureaucratic erasure. Created in conversation with the Columbia University Center for Science & Society seminar Absence/Presence, the project investigates New York City's systems for the unclaimed and the "undomiciled," asking how institutional processes can render people invisible even after death.

Representing the Death Advocacy Project during New York City's Hometown Heroes Ticker-Tape Parade (July 7, 2021). Photo taken by Katie Honan.

DEATH ADVOCACY PROJECT

The Death Advocacy Project is a volunteer-led initiative founded to help New Yorkers navigate the legal, administrative, financial, and emotional complexities that follow a death. The work combines direct advocacy, investigation, systems navigation, and public education, with a particular focus on people affected by poverty, homelessness, incarceration, addiction, disability, family estrangement, and institutional neglect. I coordinate across hospitals, medical examiners, Surrogate’s Court, funeral providers, HRA, the Veterans Administration, property managers, and community organizations; locate next of kin in unclaimed-death cases; gather and reconcile records; develop case chronologies and advocacy narratives; and help families understand their options while preserving dignity, consent, and cultural respect.

Fieldwork often begins with observation. Effective advocacy begins by understanding how people experience public space, institutional systems, and daily survival.

STREET HOMELESS ADVOCACY PROJECT

The Street Homeless Advocacy Project (SHAP) is a volunteer-led initiative supporting individuals experiencing street homelessness through low-density shelter placement, systems navigation, and interdisciplinary advocacy. My independent work focuses on understanding how people navigate overlapping healthcare, housing, behavioral health, substance use, and criminal legal systems — and how stronger coordination between institutions can reduce barriers to care.

Following the launch of “Eyes on Iran”, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signs a note for my son.

EYES ON IRAN

In 2022, I supported communications, project coordination, and public engagement for Eyes on Iran, a multidisciplinary public art activation at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park developed in partnership with For Freedoms, Vital Voices Global Partnership, Iranian artists, and human rights advocates. The installation called on the international community to remove the Islamic Republic of Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, using public art, advocacy, and civic engagement to amplify the Woman, Life, Freedom movement following the death of Mahsa Amini. My work included communications support, stakeholder coordination, and contributing to the drafting and editing of the project's official press release.

Outcome: On December 14, 2022, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted 29–8 to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women before the end of its term, citing the government's systematic violations of the rights of women and girls during the nationwide protests. The vote marked the first removal of a member state from the Commission before the expiration of its elected term.

Is New York City earthquake-ready?

SEISMIC ECHOES BENEATH THE SKYLINE

An interdisciplinary digital research project examining how hidden fault lines, soil conditions, and urban infrastructure shape earthquake risk in New York City. Combining GIS mapping, public records, historical research, and environmental analysis, the project explores how geography and the built environment influence vulnerability, preparedness, and public policy.

THE LIFE AFTER BIRTH PROJECT

Partnered with Carriage House Birth and Knix on The Life After Birth Project, a national public education initiative using documentary photography and personal narratives to challenge stigma surrounding postpartum recovery, breastfeeding, mental health, and the transition to parenthood. The exhibitions, taking place in New York City, Toronto, and Los Angeles, brought together families, birth workers, healthcare professionals, photographers, and community organizations to encourage more honest public conversations about life after childbirth.

MEDIA & PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Public engagement often begins long before a headline. Find selected interviews, publications, legislative advocacy, and public initiatives spanning public health, environmental justice, reproductive rights, constitutional law, death care, and government accountability.

CURRICULUM VITAE
A comprehensive record of my research, fieldwork, advocacy, public engagement, presentations, leadership, awards, and interdisciplinary projects.