exoneration

In my textile based sculptural wok, I am primarily concerned with how the use of lush materials and fabric’s tactile qualities can elicit emotions and feelings in my viewer. Rather than focusing on the body’s outward appearance however, I work with components that are internal and hidden, often referring to the shapes of reproductive organs for silhouettes. Through the use of lush materials, I entice the audience to touch my work, confronting social morays about the preciousness of art and the body. By using forms based on anatomical features, I encourage the viewer to connect my work to features inside of themselves and to imagine what these new organs might feel like as a part of their own body. Each of my material choices – velvet, felt, leather, latex, and tulle – attempts to heighten the tactile qualities of the work through sensual use of fabrication. The bright color palette and gradient color schemes I am denoting the passing of time and a delineation of depth, as a reflection on emotional experience.
By placing anatomical shapes on the body as jewelry or adornment, they become extensions of the wearer’s body. With this, I am raising questions of when and how it is appropriate to interact with art objects, and with other people. Is it suggestive for the wearer to display such forms on their body? Is it appropriate to touch them if they are earrings? What does it feel like to wear these shapes?

It is this conflict of restraint – the desire to touch and feel while knowing that it is more acceptable not to- is at the core of my work.

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thank you to stephen for these photos.