Artist statement
Our realities are a mosaic of exchanges with others and our own inner dialogues; an ever-updating download of sensations and feelings and exchanges both chemical and mental. Our relationship to our environments also plays a role in crafting a coherent sense of place, presence, and connectedness. The inner worlds of others and how they are expressed shape our sense of ourselves; our perceptions are colored by our exchanges with others and by our own self-knowing. Connection is a tactile experience, and a thought experiment. As we strengthen connections with others, we gradually join our worlds together, widening the Venn diagrams connecting me and you. Our overlapping circles slowly grow as we connect long-term with lovers and friends- this is how we are the same, this is how we are different, this is when we’re together, this is when we’re not.
My work touches on these connections between ourselves and others, moments of self-discovery and inner journeys, and place-making in the physical and digital world. Using textiles as a tactile medium grounded in physicality, the work is experienced both online and in the real world, providing different experiences in each realm. Communication and connection are explored through symbols, flows of movement and pattern, colors and linking elements. Bright colors, plastic elements, sparkly embellishments and eye-catching patterns point to our experiences with one another in the space of the digital- the flash of the screen, the scroll through the feed, the visual glitch, the influencer background. The work utilizes familiar and universal shapes to allude to the way information flows, moves, and is exchanged through various channels, while also referencing the symbolism of prehistoric and present communication. By engaging with existing fabrics both vintage and current, I draw on the past and the present, using the patterns, textures, and colors of the pre-made materials as a mark-making tool while hinting at the history and context of the materials themselves. The maximalist, heavily embellished surfaces of the textiles highlight the complexities both hidden and on display in each of us, while underlining the obsession with and glorification of work in a capitalist society. Each piece holds the dual marks of industrialism that touch every level of communication and manufacturing- the mark of the hand, and the mark of the machine. The hand and the machine working in tandem are part of how we connect in a digital world, and also connect us to the physicality of global production.
Our lives are colored with human interactions and relationships, exchanges and connections. We build lines of intimacy with each other and our environments. We hope to see ourselves reflected, catch a glimpse of a familiarity that spurs us to bridge the distance between us. A thought that comforts me is the idea of our connection to everything through our chemical makeup- we are made up of the water, and the same elements as the stars and the trees, and the air that we breathe, and our universal consciousness. We are all touching. We will touch forever.
My work touches on these connections between ourselves and others, moments of self-discovery and inner journeys, and place-making in the physical and digital world. Using textiles as a tactile medium grounded in physicality, the work is experienced both online and in the real world, providing different experiences in each realm. Communication and connection are explored through symbols, flows of movement and pattern, colors and linking elements. Bright colors, plastic elements, sparkly embellishments and eye-catching patterns point to our experiences with one another in the space of the digital- the flash of the screen, the scroll through the feed, the visual glitch, the influencer background. The work utilizes familiar and universal shapes to allude to the way information flows, moves, and is exchanged through various channels, while also referencing the symbolism of prehistoric and present communication. By engaging with existing fabrics both vintage and current, I draw on the past and the present, using the patterns, textures, and colors of the pre-made materials as a mark-making tool while hinting at the history and context of the materials themselves. The maximalist, heavily embellished surfaces of the textiles highlight the complexities both hidden and on display in each of us, while underlining the obsession with and glorification of work in a capitalist society. Each piece holds the dual marks of industrialism that touch every level of communication and manufacturing- the mark of the hand, and the mark of the machine. The hand and the machine working in tandem are part of how we connect in a digital world, and also connect us to the physicality of global production.
Our lives are colored with human interactions and relationships, exchanges and connections. We build lines of intimacy with each other and our environments. We hope to see ourselves reflected, catch a glimpse of a familiarity that spurs us to bridge the distance between us. A thought that comforts me is the idea of our connection to everything through our chemical makeup- we are made up of the water, and the same elements as the stars and the trees, and the air that we breathe, and our universal consciousness. We are all touching. We will touch forever.
GIF by John Whitten, 2020.
