“Home Body”
Outlet covers, paper, wax coated thread, magazine cuttings, glue.
My father has a construction company. I grew up around materials. Outlet covers are very beautiful to me. I used experimental binding to make this book, inspired by outlet wires. Construction is something I grew up understanding. I wish to understand all of the objects I live with.
“Intimate Friendship Trophy”
Hair extensions, tape.
Often in friendships people think they owe each other so much. Their beautiful hair, their choice, self esteem, suffering. This is a comedy about friendship. I have found in my friendships we live among each other like family, we seek true love with no attachments. This is what I would give a friend I felt scared of. Here is my hair, here is your trophy for liking me. Please don’t hex me, I’m trusting you!
“Sex on Kent Island, No One Cares”
Airdry Clay, white paint.
I grew up surrounded by watermen, angry mothers, republican hero’s, and lacrosse. I found myself relating to objects more than people. Strange objects with a history I could relate to started to fill my room starting at the age of 10. I collect random objects in second hand shops that look lost and precious. Objects that I would support my own little world I so carefully curated in my bedroom. I needed a pill case and a match box. I made these with rock climbing and the kink world in mind. Both the rock climbing and kink/fetish world have strong relationships with objects and how the body works with them. I feel that these objects speak for themselves. I want them to.
“Foam Pieces”
Mattress foam, iron on photo transfer paper.
First I found old foam. I had used the large piece of foam as a rug next to my bed for a while. I printed out the images on sticker paper and heat transfer paper, trimmed to size, then organized them on the foam. I cut the foam with a long knife that you would use for bread. I pulled the knife towards me in swipes, not back and forth. After they were individual cubes I picked at the foam to even the sides out and shape them, this took several hours each. After I believed they were finished I peeled the sticker paper off. The foam is soft and rubbery, so when I peeled the stickers off there was a layer of foam that came off with them. The foam was geographic, leaving a bumpy texture on both the stickers and cubes. I then turned on my iron and pressed the paper into the cubes of foam. I peeled up an edge of the paper and realized I would need to let them cool down for a while. After peeling off the paper I pressed the plastic layer of the photo on the foam and knew they were finished.
From left to right, the first photo is my leg in the back seat of my moms car. The photo reminds me of looking at my freshly shaven legs in the back of the car during summer. Seeing pimples and large hair follicles all over my legs, feeling the raw burn on my knee caps while also feeling warm lotion in the crease of my knees. My legs felt like open wounds and my heart was frantically trying to bump blood to them to fix them. In the photo there is a pattern from socks I had worn before going out on my calves. 8.5in x 11.5 in
Second to the left is a mirror selfie of me in a Victoria's Secret changing room. I was at the mall with two of my closest friends and one of them wanted to go bra shopping. She is the smallest person I know and has C cups. My other friend is the second smallest. We walked around looking at things to try on. All I could think about was sweatshops and anorexia. I picked out two beautiful lacy bras and we all tried stuff on in our little rooms at the same time. I was wondering how they felt, or maybe how easy it is for them to feel right now probably. I don't own a bra and I wish my chest was flat when I wear tee shirts. I felt gift wrapped and the bra was $60. The photo reminds me of being 13 and straightening my hair and putting on face masks that burn my face and wishing my boobs had a little under crease while I was looking at them in the shower. It reminds me that I feel like a bug in a different way now. 6in x 8.5in
The third photo is my hand with little eyebrow hairs on it. I've had a very complicated relationship with feeling messy. My body being imperfect made me feel like wet bacteria that leaves stains. The eyebrow hair is grown out bleached brow hair. This photo is like a sweet release for me, finding something unmaintained and messy to be beautiful. Seeing the pigment so harsh against the see through blond half. 8in x 10in
Lastly is my hair dangling over a towel. I was at my sister's house alone and decided to tan in her little paved side yard. I was naked and sticky from the sun. and i was blocking the sun with my hair to see my phone. I realized how pretty my hair was dangling and I took a picture. I always tanned in a bathing suit during the summer to not go to any pools or wear one in front of anyone else. Maybe this summer I will feel perfect, I would think. 6.5in x 11in
I saw bacteria buzzing in the foam I used. I resonated with its body.
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