ARE YOU AFRAID OF BEING PENETRATED?

discarded fabric, yarn, lace, paint, imitation jewels and pearls, computer circuitry, TV 

This multimedia quilt explores techniques for realizing scenes of body horror, and themes surrounding empathy, repulsion, and the fusion of technology and flesh. 

Taking inspiration from medieval ‘wound man’ illustrations and the body horror films of the 80s and 90s, this piece invites the viewer to imagine themselves as the wounded object. The quilt uses traditionally feminine techniques like sewing and crochet in order to interrogate the expectations about what mediums are considered “serious” and “real”, as well as push the boundaries of viscerality to its most abstract (can a piece of fabric count as a wounded body? can it still impact the viewer?)

Additionally, the audience is invited to envision the physical labor required to make the piece, and the impact—hauling around the pounds of freshly dyed wet fabric to hang it out to dry, hunching over for hours to handsew, pricking my fingers with the needles—on the artist’s body.