My most recent body of work utilizes themes relating to body, identity and time, from the perspective of a mother, partner and individual. I am interested in the ways that nurturing and caring for a child translates as occupational labor, and how this makes common cause with the working class by exploring the laborious nature of parenthood. I approach these ideas through various methods, including casting, construction and performance. While the different series in this body of work investigate separate ideas relating to roles of the postpartum body, a shared use of material can be seen throughout. Construction materials such as wooden pallets, 2x4s and scaffolding reference blue collar workforce, while breast milk storage bags and nursing pads suggest the time-consuming and repetitive notions associated with motherhood. The series in this body of work evolves as my role as a caretaker evolves, and aims to question how modern society values parenthood.
I use distorted and erratic renditions of drawing and fiber techniques such as crocheting, weaving, and wrapping to build sculptural installations varying in size. My process begins when I encounter fabrics that are sourced from family and friends. The tactile experience of touching the fabrics can lead to an intimate, thoughtful meditation when I ponder the history of a garment. Who wore or used this? Where were they going or what were they doing when they used it? I may cut the fabric into long continuous thread, draw onto it, or sew it into a wearable sculpture. Dense forms and linear elements take shape as I let the qualities of the materials guide me. The improvisational aspect of my practice allows unpredictability to prosper.
Inspired by my own experience of entering motherhood, I want to show the power of the mother’s body and how she influences the infant physically as well as emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Sometimes my work takes shape as figurative drawings of the nursing relationship I have with my daughter. I incorporate repetitive text into the drawings that speak to the ever-changing mental space of becoming a mother—the anxiety and worry, the joy and gratitude. Other times my work becomes sculptural, utilizing the curvealinear forms found in nature and women’s bodies. Looking at nature’s processes of decay, entropy, rupture, and unraveling, I find an ever-increasing affinity to my body. Becoming a mother has begun to transform the art I make as I see the kinship to nature more clearly. I want viewers to reconnect with their own vulnerability as well as their strength, as motherhood has required I do so in a more profound way. Within this state of vulnerability and power, I believe we can access the sensitivity that will facilitate our collective empathy.