+++ I JUST moved to Chicago so I need to update my bio soon...+++

Now in her early twenties, Leilani has grown to love her adopted home of Los Angeles despite the constant smog and inordinate amounts of traffic. She thrives in a multicultural urban environment even though she always lived at least six hours away from a major city when growing up in Maui, Hawa’ii and Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Like any other member of the digital generation she constantly checks her e-mail, facebook, and flickr accounts but is in love with the past—especially the 1950s. She’s addicted to collecting anything from this era, including Melmac plastic dishware, glittery costume jewelry, and cookbooks that feature such bizarre concoctions as ‘frankfurters stuffed with potatoes’ and ‘creamed chicken in potato cups’.

Iced coffee drinks fuel her days, even when the weather’s cold, and she can never pass up the opportunity to try a new café or restaurant. Prompted by long hours of watching The Food Network, she has become a cupcake connoisseur, and bakes them with homemade butter cream frosting or searches out the best version the city’s bakeries have to offer. She writes about food, for both Citysearch and LAist.com, and always dreams about one day stumbling upon THE best place for Eggs Benedict. Her large bag is never complete without a novel and a camera, as she relishes reading during lunch breaks. She constantly takes photographs of the little mundane details that others don’t notice: peeling paint, side alleys, crumbling motels and emphasizes color and the sense of place in her art.

She’s always slightly overdressed, in kitten heels and vintage dresses, when others are wearing jeans and sweatshirts. Either due to her old fashioned Southern upbringing or experience working in retail during high school, she actually uses the words ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and blesses people after they sneeze. When she ‘grows up’ she wants to be a photo editor, art critic, or food columnist.

News:

-Upcoming group show, "Wish You Were Here," in my hometown of Fayetteville. The show runs for two weeks in early December and the theme is nature.

-Photo to be published in "Abandoned Chairs" book project. The same photo will also be exhibited in a group show in the UK next spring.