This work explores the idea of control or rather the lack of control over my body I felt (and still feel) growing up. From a young age a strict set of values were placed around me in my home. Another person held control over my body and how I was supposed to look and act as a young woman in society. I did not have room to form my own identity; it was them pushing and pulling my skin. Therefore, using a space that activates my sculptures, I am able to make the viewer feel a sense of uncomfortableness and vulnerability. The dark ominous hallway with a glowing red exit sign creates the presence of external forces and a sense of a controlled environment. These clay body’s, referenced from my own, are torn, fragmented, pierced by metal materials and left with a rough clay texture to emphasize the feeling of uncomfortableness in my own body. Placing the figural sculptures on top of full garbage bags reiterates the idea of being a receptacle or vessel for someone else to throw all of their insecurities and anxieties into my body. However, rather than letting the garbage pile up inside my body I gathered it and sat on top of it, taking my control back. Finally, intentionally placing the sculptures on either side of the doorway allows for them to be in conversation with each other, each marking a different time in my life that ultimately circles back to “a body that doesn't feel like mine.” 


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The Weight of Beauty, 2025