2021-2023
Tender Points. Nervous Pathways.
Tender Points. Nervous Pathways. is a heartfelt investigation into the lineage of disability identity.
Through the integration of textured materials such as cotton fabric, velvet, lace, encaustic, and waxed thread, these sculptural wall-forms emblemize intricate bodies - human bodies, celestial bodies, and collective social bodies.
Using my archive of found photos, I designed joyful - yet disordering - repeat patterns that speak to the complicated beauty of disabled embodiments. These brightly-colored kaleidoscopic patterns highlight the complex love of living within a bodymind that our society devalues. Inspired by my own visual experiences living with migraine aura and sensory-processing disorders, the mandala-esque patterns demand a slow, careful viewing of people who have historically been invisible, “enfreaked,” and disenfranchised.
Circular shapes bound together with tendinous sections of waxed thread allude to the interdependent, interconnected nature of our human lives, especially within the lives of marginalized people who exist within intersecting systems of oppression. The artworks herald the ways in which this interconnection can cultivate harm or well-being depending on the social and political contexts.
Tender Points. Nervous Pathways. was created using an access-centered approach to artmaking and exhibition design. The series includes creative “accessibility features” such as artwork descriptions, audio recordings and textured artworks, along with both an in-person and digital exhibition. I consider all these iterations as individual works that comprise a multimodal series.
Hinging Embrace
A parent in pink,
A nurse in blue,
Everything hinges on our embrace.
Velvet and coarse canvas -
Patchwork care stitched
In squiggled purple and teal.
My translucid arm
Clasps my translucid leg.
Entwined by slight orange lace.
Patched eye,
Masked mouth,
Our lives revealed.
Hinging Embrace
Canvas, Velvet, Lace, Wood, Lucite, Acrylic Gel Medium.
48 by 72 by 1.5 inches
2023
Akimbo
Oscillating with arm akimbo
We are intertwined at the elbow,
Spinning like a whirlygig
Arm and arm we
Spiral in shades of blue
Peacock, spruce and arctic
I am part frosted rose and taffy
Hoops of waxen lace and thread.
We are held tightly in tandem
With brightly colored string
Forming tendons - tense, achy, and vital
I turn towards you
I turn away
I am double
Adjoined akimbo
Akimbo
Canvas, Velvet, Lace, Wood, Lucite, Acrylic Gel Medium.
60 by 36 by 6 inches
2023
Swivel Joint
Siblings of circumstance,
We pose with wheels touching.
Soaked in vibrant fuchsia, purple and pale pink,
Our adjoined waiting breaks,
Into a splendor of staggering motion,
shifting from one pattern to the next.
We are one, two,
Housed together. At home together.
Two halves, bonded with periwinkle strips of thick-bodied lace
Siblings of circumstance,
We wait wheels touching
We move wheels touching
In revolutions of pink and periwinkle
Swivel Joint
MDF, lace, cotton canvas, velvet, acrylic paint, glue, metal hardware, acrylic medium
18 inches (round)
2023
Radical Holding
I rest my arm along our knee -
I let us rest.
I listen to the amber, fire, gold, and ruddy
That shapes our radical holding.
Velvet purple splendor,
Waxed spirals flecked by ice.
Enfold each other dearly
Like barnacles flushed bright.
Hand to ear
And arm to knee.
Through tailored passages,
Reels our kindred radical holding.
Radical Holding
Encaustic wax, wood, cotton fabric, waxed thread, velvet.
62 by 60 by 4 inches
2023
Assemblage
I am bolstered.
Wheels, crutches,
And nervous lace trim.
Pale gray purple,
And cosmic blue.
I am clustered stitches -
interlaced velvet and canvas.
I lay flat.
My starburst cast legs
In brilliant fuchsia glow.
We are tethered together -
A constellation
In lilac and burning orange.
Assemblage
Canvas, Velvet, Lace, Wood, Acrylic Gel Medium, Lucite Pins, Acrylic Paint.
46 by 40 by 1.5 inches
2023
Lateral Fold
Armed by hidden difference
I cannot face our folding.
A downward gaze in purple dusk.
Our rest aligned,
In double double beds.
Tangled swirls of
Crowded kin.
My expressive hands in shades of orange -
Dawn and deep ember.
Radiantly clasped by interlaced fingers
And shared gesture.
With outstretched lace ligaments
I can fold in any direction
instead we expand.
Lateral Fold
Canvas, Velvet, Lace, Wood, Acrylic Gel Medium, Lucite Pins, Acrylic Paint
46 by 40 by 1.5 inches
2023
Lingering Sojourn
Dreaming of slumber parties
In rose, plum, and coral
I am again recovering in solitude.
Longing for respite,
In mauve, orange and bits of sky,
I am unable to match your hasty pace.
A lucent extension of my body,
Holds my weight
Moves with my rhythm
Exposes the unsteady
I am rapid cycling
Forever in giddy repeats.
I am dreaming of slumber parties.
I am longing for respite.
Lingering Sojourn
Plywood, MDF, lace, cotton fabric, canvas, velvet, oil paint, encaustic wax medium and paint, waxed thread, glue, metal hardware, acrylic medium
48 by 72 by 1.5 inches
2022-23
(Un)Furled Footing
I am a warm blue
Like the very center of a flame.
Bound together with chunky twirls of magenta.
With a slight smile in your direction,
I put my feet up and sink a little
Farther into my armchair.
Repeating in cyclical flares
Of unavoidable collapse,
Of radical rest,
Of worn out throw pillows,
Of deep sighs,
And of warm blue flames.
Hindrances unseen,
Unnoticed by most
But with my unfurled body calmly still
I come into focus.
(Un)Furled Footing
MDF, lace, cotton canvas, velvet, acrylic paint, glue, metal hardware, acrylic medium
24 inches (round)
2023
Revolutionary Being
I move in revolutions
Of punch pink and purple vein.
I pause in contemplation
Of florid force and edges rounded.
Bold rings of hefty cyan,
Waxen lace,
And velvet glimpses.
The space between my twists
is never empty.
I flow instead,
In revolutions.
Of punch pink and purple vein.
Of extended body and motion.
Of demanding echoed gazes.
Revolutionary Being
Plywood, MDF, lace, cotton fabric, canvas, velvet, oil paint, encaustic wax medium and paint, waxed thread, glue, metal hardware, acrylic medium
48 by 50 by 1.5 inches
2022-23