Artist Statement

My work utilizes printmaking and fibers techniques to explore the emotional landscape of a daily routine. Through a collaging practice, I manipulate photographs of my mundane tasks, repeating and overlapping the figures, to create intricate patterns. The resulting compositions resemble motion studies or chronophotography, with each figure marking a distinct phase in a continuous action. Though the gestures are simple, putting on a sweater, or buttoning a coat, the layered imagery creates a sense of urgency and implies a cyclical force to the tasks at hand.

This anxious state is the result of functioning within a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment created through generations of misogyny and capitalism. These systems place the onus on women to provide comfort, emotional stability, and visual appeal, at the expense of one's own list of priorities. By documenting my own labors of domestic maintenance, and transforming them into sequential imagery, I reflect on my need for constant movement and productivity as well as the sense of accomplishment and joy I derive from these patterns of oppression. I aim to challenge the cultural association of exertion with value, and critique societal pressures that shape gender roles, emotional labor, and self-worth.

Woodblock carving is an ideal medium to engage in nuanced conversations around domestic politics and gendered labor. Carving wood is a physically intensive process where the material carved away leaves no visible trace in the final image, much like the act of tidying a home goes unnoticed since a clean room is devoid of all evidence of a previous mess. Similarly, weaving is a physically taxing process that slowly accumulates to reveal a finished piece only through perseverance and patience. Despite this, fibers have undergone an integration into our homes that create a false sense that woven cloth is a cheap,disposable material. Through these slow and methodical processes, I create a space for reflection and resistance.