Exploring consumption in a progressively digital world, I seek to create negotiable space for the body to navigate. My work traverses the space between sculptural and wearable as I engage a garments’ ability to hold and release energy. The space between the natural and digital world is constantly shrinking, and with it grows neglect of the physical body and pressure on the mind to hastily consume information.
Considering the body as both the maker and the bearer, the site and the receiver, my work aims to create an intimate space in our digital future. By considering modern electronics as disposable artifacts and positioning them in environments made of different materials, my work exists as a prediction of the future.
I engage sustainability both conceptually and pragmatically with investigation into electronic waste, anthropocenic predictions, and constant consideration of materiality to acknowledge the body as the producer.
Tangled in Cables, 2022, Nonfunctional cables, 72" x 12" x 8"
Woven cables shaped to fit the body
Soft Relics, 2022, Cotton jersey, dye print, mohair yarn, concrete, thermochromic ink, wool knit, dye print, hand dyed denim
Collection of six garments, displayed as art objects.
Byte/Flesh: Look 01, 2022, Nonfunctional cables, concrete, repurposed/hand dyed denim, leather dye. Model: Cael Creasman (@a.caeldiet) Photography: Katie Murray (@katie.jmurray) & Livia (@liviamcmy)
Pants contain 52 individually bleached/dyed denim pockets gradually increasing from 1"x1" to 10"x12"
Byte/Flesh: Look 02, 2022, Nonfunctional cables, hand knit mohair yarn undergarments. Model: Nika (@ni_9_3_6_ka) Photography: Katie Murray (@katie.jmurray) & Livia (@liviamcmy)
Netted cables shaped to fit the body
Infotoxication, 2021, Nonfunctional cables, screen-printed mesh lining with pockets, 26" x 22" x 3"
Phone Fossil Charms, 2022, Hand molded concrete, dye print, zinc chain & carabiner, ranging from 1" x 1.5" to 2" x 2.5"
Pocket Rock, 2022, iPhone, Concrete, superglue, both 5.7" x 2.79" x 0.3"
Prohibited Artifact, 2022, Concrete, graphite, hairspray
Text: Aerosol insecticide, Alcoholic beverages over 140 proof, Bear spray, Butane, Chlorine for pools and spas, CO2, Cooking spray, Residual fuel, Fertilizer, Flammable liquid, Flammable gel, Flammable aerosol, paint, Fuels, Gasoline, Lighter fluid, Liquid bleach, Pepper spray, Propane, Spray paint, Tear gas, Turpentine, Paint thinner, Solvents, Drain cleaner, Paint stripper, Pesticides, Herbicides, Nail polish remover, Toluene, Diethyl ether
Nursery I, 2022, Concrete, money tree, dirt, television remote shell, 39" x 8.5" x 6"
Tableaux, 2022, Concrete, graphite, home-made bioplastic, copper, plastic, aluminum, 10" x 10" x 1"
Figures traced in graphite from found imagery on google earth. Considering the future of earth's strata as chemicals and raw material from electronic waste becomes apart of our geological footprint.
My work this past semester seeks to find space for the body in our digital future. In our daily lives the way we process information, touch, socialize, love, is being altered due to our concurrent existence in physical and digital spaces. For every individual who grows up in the digital age, the separation of subject and object occurs when one decides how they want to be perceived online. This objectification of the digital self causes one to value their digital self, filtered and perfected, over their physical self. We are becoming cyborgs, overwhelmed at all times, experiencing constant stimuli yet being unable to retain all of it. The net provides us with a very seductive constant flow, a blur of information which does not allow us to pick out individual parts of a whole. This information desaturates, becoming a gray blur of pale information. Over saturation ends in a blur. There are no distinct colors, shapes, ideas, words, or threads of information which remain. When technology is destroyed, there are no distinct characteristics of the technology, the plastic is melted down to become material, the gold is taken out of the boards and sold for profit. All that remains is this fading of information and technology into our geological layer. With overstimulation inevitably comes an overflow of information. While the human brain overflows, as does our physical consumption. Electronic waste is poured into landfills, taking years to eventually break down into nondescript matter.
I seek to create work which honors the holy tactile, which acknowledges the body as creator, and centers around the space the body occupies to create a physical experience. Working between garment, accessory, and sculpture, I believe creating work which speaks to the archaeology of the future allows the body and mind to value the physical experience. Working with materials which will be embedded in our future geology such as concrete and electronic waste has allowed me to feel connected to the future of the earth. Considering garments as artifacts, my work traverses medium and allows the individual body to place the work where one sees fit. I continue to seek a sense of peace in a deluge of information and waste.