Artist Statement

Discarded clothing is my paint. I give second chances, new life, and a fresh start to the worn, the damaged, the devalued, the mistreated, the abandoned, the unwanted, and to myself. My artwork is concerned with the vulnerability of cloth and human beings. Being vulnerable exposes us to violence from others but at the same time opens us to the world and to our creativity. Openness makes transformation possible. It offers a chance to imagine a world in which violence might be minimized, a world in which our interdependence and common humanity are acknowledged.

Clothing is porous, tactile, pliable, fragile, and emotional just like skin. In my work it is regarded as the second skin, the boundary between the inside and the outside of the body. I explore boundaries that create distinctions between inside and outside, between invisible and visible, between private and public, between truth and illusion, between now and then, and also between reason and thinking, insanity and madness.

My process is focused on deconstruction, reconstruction, and transformation. It is a material expression of what is happening in today’s world – the unraveling of the world as we knew it as we prepare to move on to something new. We are all taking part in this transformation together.

Mending is explored as both a physical and symbolic act relating to individual as well as collective trauma. I repair a world torn apart. I dismantle the fabric of the world and piece it together differently, assemble and join disparate strips of clothing to create an integrated, harmonious new whole which is more than the sum of its parts. I unite pieces of many colors, patterns, textures, and histories. I commingle and interweave the clothing and energy of many others with my own. I connect and bind the pieces together to create peaceful unity.

My artwork is created lovingly and laboriously through processes of hand cutting, hand hooking, hand stitching, hand embroidery, crochet, soft sculpture, and more. It raises awareness of the significance of human creativity in a time when artificial intelligence is gradually replacing work by humans. Artwork created entirely with human hands and human feelings is more important now than ever.