Artist Statement

My emotional narrative portraits are concerned with what it means to be human. Discarded clothing is my paint. I give second chances, new life, and a fresh start to the worn, the torn, the damaged, the devalued, the mistreated, the abandoned, the unwanted, and to myself. I see the infinite potential in objects and in every human being.

My artwork raises awareness of the significance of human creativity in a time when artificial intelligence is gradually replacing work by humans. We are living in a non-human culture that has accustomed us to the speed of technology in violation of the natural rhythms of life. I create my work slowly, lovingly, and laboriously through processes of hand cutting, hand hooking, hand stitching, hand embroidery, crochet, appliqué, soft sculpture, and more. In a time when touching the flat surfaces of screens is normal, my multilayered and textured portraits reach out and “touch” people emotionally. The power of the human touch and the human heart can never be replaced by a machine. Artwork created entirely with human hands and human feelings is more important now than ever.

Discarded clothing is the second skin, a medium of memory, an extension of the self. It is porous, tactile, pliable, fragile, and emotional just like human skin; it is susceptible to harm and manipulation, just like human beings are. It is also the social skin with the ability to create physical connections between strangers. Discarded clothing connects me with traces of diverse human beings known and unknown, multiple former wearers of all ages, genders, races, and experiences. It links me with numerous others whose garments and forgotten histories wear on in my work.

Through deconstruction and reconstruction, destruction and mending, I transform the old into new. My process 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 experimental. I dismantle the fabric of the world and piece it together differently. I repair a world torn apart; I explore the idea of repair as both a physical and symbolic act relating to individual as well as collective trauma. I assemble and join disparate strips of clothing to create a 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. My work is a metaphor for we are one, all of us members of the human family. When we are intertwined and woven together we are stronger, more colorful, and more resilient.