Woven Narratives

My body of work for my thesis brings together a strong aesthetic and material based practice into the realm of social justice. Through cultural context, artistic and theoretical references, my driving motivations in art practice are discussed. I use weaving, ceramics, performativity and process as manifestations to expand the discourses of textile and political art. Organic shapes, texture, and a plethora of details in the work allow meandering investigations by the viewer and create art that continually changes. Touch, texture and the handmade are explored in relationship to the maker and the performativity of making. Local, industrial, and indigenous materials are explored in relationship to their places of origin and the connotations they carry. The textile-orientated works of contemporary artists such as Sascha Reichstein, Sara Rahbar and Lisa Anne Auerbach, which are politically radical, influence my practice. Through the lens of social justice and intersectionality, my work investigates borders, refugees, globalism and colonization in relation to textiles and makers. I use the relationship of textiles to social justice and activism to create a working method in which to start my material explorations. The act of making alone can provide a powerful statement that has the ability to reframe the way we view and act within our world. The body is used to forefront the human element around issues of injustices. Females are picked both for the relationship to textiles and because of their marginal position within intersections of race, gender, class, citizenship and culture.