Artist Statement

My artwork captures the angst of our dark and challenging times, an era of socio-political and cultural challenges and contradictions, an anti-human period of warfare, loss of freedom, propaganda, censorship, and experimentation on the unsuspecting public, a time when governments all over the world are leveraging technology to control the people. I create this work to wake people up, to prevent indifference, and to inspire empathy and compassion for human life.

Medium, process, and message are intertwined in my artwork. Discarded clothing is the medium. It represents the second skin; it is an extension of the self and humanity; it is porous, tactile, pliable, fragile, and emotional just like human skin; it is susceptible to harm and manipulation. I give second chances, new life, and a fresh start to the worn, the torn, the broken, the mistreated, the abandoned, the unwanted, the devalued, the disrespected, the dispensable, and to myself. I see the untapped potential and intrinsic worth in objects and within all human beings.

My artistic process is a material expression of the deconstruction and demolition we are witnessing in our society. There is a breaking down and tearing apart of the old clothes and then reconstruction, a means to new possibilities, restoration and repair. 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.

I create my emotional narrative portraits slowly, lovingly, and laboriously through processes of hand cutting, hand stitching, hand hooking, hand embroidery, collage, crochet, appliqué, soft sculpture, and more. My artwork raises awareness of the significance of human creativity in a time when artificial intelligence and robotization are gradually replacing work by humans. Artwork created entirely with human hands and human feelings can hold multiple dimensions of truth that AI can never fathom. My heavily textured tactile artwork reaches out and touches the viewer deeply and emotionally. It will remain alive into the future with a human-made life of its own. Human handwork is more important now than ever.