Laments of Self

MFA Student

Major: Ceramics

Graduation Year: 2017

Artist Statement:

My respect and concern for the world and its creatures situates my work and practice within a context that connects to environmental domination and anthropocentric destruction. My art offers connections to nature and speaks for the ones without voices. Through the creation of ceramic objects and performative acts, I seek to awaken humanity to the dualisms of nature and culture as wells as women and culture.
Performativity channels the personal as a means to connect art and life. While connecting to the realities of my own experience as a woman, I embody the metaphorical and symbolic beings of ancient myth. Although the authenticity of this piece comes from a woman’s experience within a patriarchy, my work does not exclude. Becoming one with the earthly material of clay breaks the boundaries of humans and nature.
My concepts of rebirth and transformation are inspired specifically from the Greek myth of Persephone and Demeter. Through the enactment of a rebirth, the walls between dichotomies are broken. In the performance titled Seed, a stratified woman, the artist embodies the goddess Persephone as she is buried in the earth. The collaborator represents Demeter gradually aiding the artist’s construction. Barriers between two females are built as the artist is concealed and alienated from the audience. Breaking these metaphorical walls of self and society evokes a sense of empowerment and connection.