Why?
This series of artwork has been created over the last 4-5 years throughout design school and post-grad periods of self-discovery. Professionally, I’m a seamstress and patternmaker, so I incorporate fabric, thread, and other multimedia objects from my daily life into my work. Organic and intuitive shapes contrasted with gridwork and technical imagery is a relationship I continually explore. It’s also important to me as an artist to use materials found within my direct environment for reasons of authenticity, thorough integration, and of course, sustainability. My work explores themes of sense of place, mirrored perception, and emotional agility.
Drive
The work you see here is both deeply personal and also attempts a reflection of larger sociocultural themes. On a sticky note I’ve had in my space for years, now pasted onto the piece titled “Me for You/You for Me”, it reads, “Abuse of my body is abuse/ of our body”. Domestic and interpersonal sexual violence has followed me for many years, as is common for many other AFAB and feminine-presenting people in my close circle and in larger society. This series has come to tell a story of resilience despite the reality of abuse and the corrosive aftermath of living and learning to cope with it.
Process
Though continually refining the process, I attempt to bring life to these multimedia works using objects, pigments, words and images having been steeped in the juices of everyday life. I believe the objects we surround ourselves with represent sacred acts of intention, whether that’s a family heirloom or a piece of broken glass. The basis of my work is found, stumbled upon, encourages intuitive discovery within myself, and strives to have a similar impact on the viewer. Material and spiritual playfulness is a method of alchemy dear to my heart and paramount to my continued survival. Not a single one of these paintings is complete, and I see them as continually evolving pieces that might never reach a final resting place.