Home Anatomy

Thesis Exhibition

Interlochen, Michigan

My awareness of my body started really young, and has led me to always find change difficult. When I went through puberty, I found myself confronting the idea that the way I felt on the inside was suddenly really different from the way that others were looking at me. From learning how to shave my legs to wearing a bra for the first time, adolescence and physical change felt awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes even scary. I began to feel like a stranger within my own body, hyper aware of myself and the space that I occupied but also feeling like I didn’t know how to correctly communicate my discomfort to the people around me. 

My artwork explores the idea of the body as both a home and as an unfamiliar environment. Because so much of my adolescence was shaped by my relationship with my body, I create expansive textile pieces that force the viewer to confront and accommodate them as a reference to the discomfort I’ve had to navigate as a young woman throughout my life. I gravitate toward tactile processes like knitting, hand-sewing, and crocheting—techniques deeply rooted amongst the women in my family, often assumed to be casual, domestic, and quiet. In contrast, my pieces are expansive, using color, texture, and scale to reclaim space and, by extension, power.

A sort of synthesis happens in my studio, where a pair of pajama pants morphs into protruding forms, bedsheets become bulbous intestinal shapes, and the pages of a book from my childhood are torn apart and swell into new growth. My use of materials that have past lives and sentimental value is a way of questioning the line between the familiar and the alien, referencing the loss of familiarity I experienced as I grew into an adult body. But instead of imagining that change and loss are synonymous, I find the beauty in the newness and unpredictability of my materials, allowing that to guide the construction of each of my pieces.

By making art that embraces the growing pains that have been prevalent throughout my life, I find myself reframing my perception of the body, adolescence, and my growth as a young woman. My thesis installation is a way to communicate this new perspective with my audience, focusing on the idea that discomfort, though inevitable, doesn’t have to be something to be scared of. As you venture through my exhibition I invite you to examine the countless intricate moments of growth and change that have defined my adolescence, while also celebrating their beauty and their power.