"Mending"

MFA Solo Exhibition

Artist Statement: “Mending”

Oxford Dictionary:
“Mending” (noun) things to be repaired by sewing or darning.
“Mend” (verb) return to health, heal

With every stitch and suture placed to build my sculptures I foster and create a mental space that allows for spiritual healing. Animal forms show what I worship, and I aim to exhibit how their spirits are captured in my memory. Seams of stitching across each figure tell a story of their lives, how they came to exist as they do today. Beads alongside threads beneath the skin of each figure and the use of the whip stitch I learned growing up, are ties to my cultural heritage. The beads and threads also trace life-providing veins and arteries lying beneath the skin, a source of vulnerability but also essential vitality.