My practice is informed by growing up in the southern tourist destination of Florida. I was confronted daily with the extreme contrasts of living in paradise. My artwork is a reflection of my roots in this tropical vacationland. By re-configuring how we consider commodified objects of tourism, my work examines the paradoxical relationships that exist between materials and place. Wish You Were Here is an installation created from thousands of cocktail umbrellas. The umbrella in a cocktail seems to represent a brief moment of escape, relaxation, or leisure. The sole purpose of a cocktail umbrella is to decorate a cocktail—it is a paper umbrella devoid of function. Normally we see them in something fruity and often frozen, usually while on vacation or at least pretending to be. It is an item used to recreate and manifest the idea of vacation. These tiny, paper umbrellas transport us to somewhere that is warm, beautiful, exotic; and that is what I wanted to evoke with this installation.