The materiality of personhood exists in the connections we form with each other, in how we interact through touch, and in the daily moments of intimacy that teach us about one another. Utilizing mending, collaging, and collecting, I emphasize the ability to build our lives through creative actions. My books, quilted forms, and other soft sculptures are meant to be touched and caressed, to be held in the hand. Creating intimate one-on-one encounters with the pieces, I provide a space for remembering, uncovering, and resurfacing oneself.
My work explores tenderness and human connection through acts of soft making. Using slow, hand-based processes, I collaborate with found — often discarded — objects, from childhood toys to handwritten ephemera to family photo albums. Treating these items as archives of unknown lives, I unfold the universal moments within the specific stories they each contain. These objects tell secrets of our shared desires and fears.
Influenced by the Studio Craft Movement, I embrace the play and curiosity in giving ourselves permission to make a mess. I encourage viewers to indulge in the act of noticing; by rounding out and softening edges, I make marks of interaction visible. I examine how we engage in material transfer — of oils, dust, emotions, possessions — through embrace, conversation, and gestures of love.
