Description

Artist’s Biography/Statement:

These two uteri bound together represent mother and daughter, sisters, friends…the connectivity of women. Personally, this piece represents my relationship with my mother and her constant demand for beauty. I started thinking, what will we embellish next, our uteruses? And how long will women be judged and valued by their looks? I love Planned Parenthood. I am a monthly donor and have a Planned Parenthood sign in my car window. I would be honored to support them in this show.

My work plays with the tension between beauty and damage, hard and soft, through the manipulation of fabric that has been lived with, worn by, or cuddled by human bodies. Most of my work incorporates domestic practices such as braiding, weaving, quilting and sewing mixed with rusted metal surfaces, found objects or wire.  I particularly enjoy creating pieces with metal completely encased, and allowing it to rust from the inside out, representing how that which is unhealed can continue to fester, grow and consume.

My study of beauty and the societal expectations of women stems from my relationship with my mother.  She was born and raised in a small segregated Louisiana town in the 50s.  Her beauty and whiteness were her currency in the world, and she held onto that image (and expectation) of herself through many traumas and addictions, and expected the same from me. Towards the end of her life, I became her main caregiver and began to understand how her upbringing shaped her.

Through that lens, I continue to investigate how being a woman shapes my choices, how being white shapes my reactions, how growing up in the South requires constant thought-editing, and how my own life experiences create a veil over all of it.