Thesis Exhibition: March 13-16

Reception: March 15, 6-8 pm  

Clitstory Quilt(in process), 2024, Cotton and synthetic origin with hand-quilted stitching

Clitstory Quilt(Detail), 2024, Cotton and synthetic origin with hand-quilted stitching

Artist Statement 

My research is deeply rooted in metaformic theory — examining the human inclination toward the creation of spiritual devices and iconographies that both inform and respond to our material culture. Specifically, I am interested in how these behaviors are intrinsically tied to the advent of menstruation. In the primary moments of early human civilization, the emergence of menstruation led humans to construct distinct spaces, both figuratively, where metaphors were externalized and bloomed into cultural origins, and physically, within the menstrual seclusion rituals that punctuate early human histories.  

Within my interdisciplinary practice, I investigate the profound influence that thousands of years of these rituals have had on the human psyche. Using quilting techniques that engage alternative methods of storytelling and history-keeping, I point to the small, prismatic glimmers of the past in our contemporary rituals, religions, and everyday activities that mirror the menstrual cycle and the genesis of metaphor as metaform. Through the methodology of metaformic theory, my work deconstructs notions concerning the thresholds of reality and fiction, or the ancient and digital, and in turn suggests the body as its own wellspring for knowledge, history, and spirituality. 

More information about Blithe Ophelia Grey at www.blitheopheliagrey.com