Statement

My practice is inspired by our complex, fragmented understanding of our bodies: the segmentation of somatic and psychological experience in western culture.

We are often taught to view and treat our bodies and our minds separately. My work often uses anatomical rendering as a site for integration, blurring the lines between an objective, scientific understanding of the body’s parts and a personal sense of embodiment. A realization of interdependence informs my drawing practice: I consider forces seen and unseen and work to translate them into materials.

Most recently, the content of my work has shifted to address the social, emotional, and physical aspects of parenthood. I consider dichotomies: the strength of one’s body to carry and nourish a child and the simultaneous precarity of pregnancy. Miscarriages are both ubiquitous and never spoken of. Motherhood is at once a choice and the implied default of womanhood; electing to be child-free often carries negative assumptions.

Through drawing, I can bring these contrasts into view: exploring the gaps between biology and identity. Thread sewn into fragile surfaces both evokes ideas of feminine craft and the functional stitching of sutures. In the space of the drawing, the presence of this material is often subdued. White thread on white paper draws an analogy to the unseen work of women and mothers, an accumulation of responsibilities that is commonly referred to as ‘the double shift’. It is my desire to provoke questions about how these dynamics exist and shape our culture.