This series was sparked by a March 7th, 2025 article in The New York Times that documented a growing list of words quietly disappearing under the current administration. According to a review of federal agency communications, hundreds of terms have been flagged for restricted use—not formally banned, but quietly sidelined. This subtle censorship shapes public discourse by narrowing vocabulary and ultimately shifting how we think and communicate.

When we alter language, especially by removing key words, we reshape how we think, what we’re allowed to question, and how we move through society.

In the “Political Periodical Table”, I use the familiar format of the scientific Periodic Table, merging each element’s letter symbol and atomic number with a word from the list of discouraged or eliminated terms. For example, Hydrogen (H,1) is replaced with “Historically”, a word now deemed problematic. By translating these disappearing words into a familiar format, I aim to make the scale of this censorship something viewers can stand before and absorb.

I was compelled to create this work after reading the article. I was struck by the excessiveness of the list. It felt regressive, as though we were moving backwards in time.

This work invites the viewer to consider what it means when language is policed. It’s a reflection on censorship, the politicization of vocabulary, and the power of words to shape our understanding and our freedom. I want to draw attention to what is being quietly and overtly censored and removed from the conversation and dismissed altogether. This series is a visual archive expressing that words matter, and their removal shapes the world we live in.