Artist
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My experience of metamorphosis as a transgender person permeates my practice, and so my sculptures exist as a tangible story of transformation. I engage in processes associated with “women’s work” to stitch together my queer identities primarily with textiles and beadwork to create self-portraits, wearables, and interactive works that reclaim my individual history.
I utilize a method of “freestyle stitching” as a resistance to the use of patterns, which frees me from adhering to a formulaic approach in my work. This technique directly correlates to queerness; by defying predetermined societal expectations, I liberate myself by redefining and reconciling my relationship with gender and sexuality.
By reimagining some of my favorite childhood memorabilia, I utilize a playful nostalgia while chronicling my lived experiences. I continue to build a novel mythology for my hybridized creatures and self-commemorative work to foster compassion towards a former self that I had felt imprisoned within. I invite viewers to witness the tension between my body, psyche, and desires through experiencing my physical representations of personal vulnerability.