Momentum is met with resistance; force with ease. Through material studies, I engage questions of the body’s capacity to resist failure and the opening afforded by that process. Paper carries its history visibly, as skin bears marks of time and abrasion as scars, so too does paper. Born with a cleft lip and palate, I have long been weary of skin, cut and torn. My body has been opened, rebuilt, and mended with tape, time, and my own bones. These experiences echo in periodic, quiet, aches, and inform my interest in the memory of material things. As I prepare my body to form another, I see my relationship to skin stretched. Old fears resurface, guided by the desire for something which is born of the body’s will. I have witnessed it; the body takes over and imbues the woman with a strength I do not have words for. Yet, without resistance, such force can be destructive. It is the relationship to the material that matters. This series is the result of my rumination on the precarious relationship between desire and resistance, as it pertains to the body, and as illustrated through a material to which it is married in metaphor.

This work was last exhibited at the Decker Gallery, MICA in Fall 2019: it can begin with clouds, curated by John Ros | brochure | card | essay

Documentation by Dan Meyers,