The Lens and the Question
Where Philosophy Feels and Art Thinks, En Plein Air
As I take you on this journey, you’ll find that my approach is en plein air—a term used by artists who work outdoors, capturing the world as it unfolds. It’s also a philosophy that invites us to engage with life as it happens, questioning, feeling, and witnessing in real time.
I had an epiphany in Paris.
As I wandered through Montmartre and slipped into its galleries, I felt something stir—an ache for a part of myself I hadn’t touched in years. Philosophy first brought me to Paris, but it was never the reason I dreamed of it. That dream belonged to art. And now, standing in the heart of a place that has long been a refuge for artists, I realized how wholly and quietly I had let my art fall away.
It wasn’t intentional. Philosophy took the lead, and my work in AI ethics grew. I’ve earned recognition in that space and believe deeply in my work. But my art—my way of seeing the world—was never separate from my philosophy. It was always part of the same pursuit: understanding, revealing, documenting, questioning.
My mother seemed to know before I did—she sent me art supplies for Christmas. She never believed I had to choose. But for so long, it felt like the world insisted that I defend my rational side and skills; to do that, I had to set my art aside.
That ends now.
I’ve always used photography to capture the places ethics is most needed—the neglected homes, the abandoned schools, the quiet devastation hidden in plain sight. My work has landed in The New York Times, Lens Magazine. Not because I was chasing recognition, but because these images asked urgent questions about what kind of world we are building
And now, I want to bring that into my AI ethics work fully. To show, not just tell. To pair my talks with art exhibits, to take philosophy on the road—camera in hand, voice in motion. Ethics is not just logic; it is creative thinking, storytelling, feeling. And I want to present it in a way that cannot be ignored.
That’s why I’m launching a new project—a vlog-podcast that brings this vision to life. A way to share ethics as I encounter it: in motion, in real-time, as both artist and ethicist. Rooted in the tradition of peripatetic philosophy, where learning and reflection happen while walking and engaging with the world, this project will be raw and unscripted—on location, walking and discussing the spaces where history, technology, and humanity collide.
It is the artist’s act of witness and the philosopher’s journey, alive in every step.
This is me, showing up whole.
I hope you’ll walk with me on this journey.
