ALI NIKOLICH

As a child, my parents enrolled me in dance lessons where I spent my youth telling stories through movement and motion. In high school I ripped up my clothes and stitched them back into garments that told stories about anarchy and self-expression. Stories tumbled out of me as poems, acoustic ballads, short stories, oil paintings and monologues. During my junior year, I developed a passion for marine biology and joined my school's biology club. I distinctly remember the day we went to Fort Desoto to collect water samples. I crouched over an unassuming tide pool and stared in awe at the drama that was unfolding. This humble little tide pool was telling thousands of stories of survival, rivalry and redemption. Simultaneously! I don't know how long I gazed into that tide pool, but when I looked up again, I was suddenly aware of the countless stories playing out all around me. I haven't been able to shake that awareness since... After graduating high school I took on my mother's pet..