1. the same cake, again
2023-present
new body of sculptural wall pieces
A new body of work, in which I use scanned photos and ephemera from my own childhood to explore how our nuclear family mythology (as best captured by family photos of celebrations like birthdays) reflects our paternalistic relationship to government (patrios = patriotism). I am interested in exploring how our deeply personal familial mythos and ideas of loyalty and belonging are duplicated on a national, political stage to our collective detriment.
The photos that I choose depict a kind of slippage or refusal of performance. So many of the photos taken of me as a child show what my family called a ‘lack of cooperation’ or a ‘moodiness’, which I once felt ashamed of, but now is reframed through a lens of understanding and making space for the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse I was suffering as a child. What does it mean when images taken to further a narrative of nuclear family happiness and peace fail? What is the ‘failure’ and what essential truth and humanness does it reveal? What can we learn from these revelations?
from all of us, 60x55x7in
scanned archival photos on cardboard substrate, scanned card given to artist on her 4th birthday, weaving yarn, scrap wood, staples, pigment, crayon, wax, beads, pipe cleaners, plaster, rain water from the Great Basin in nevada, journal entry from august 2023
Juxtaposition of two unlikely formal inclinations, 30x50x4in
scanned archival photos on cardboard substrate, weaving yarn, scrap wood, staples, pigment, crayon, wax, beads, pipe cleaners, plaster, rain water collected from The Great Basin, embroidery materials
the same cake, again, 35x58x5in
scanned personal photos of artist’s sister’s sixth birthday on scrap cardboard substrate, ceramic, paper pulp made of old birthday cards, weaving yarn, scrap wood, staples, , beeswax, a child’s old sweater, pigment, crayon, wax, beads, pipe cleaners, plaster, embroidery materials