ARTIST STATEMENT

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FABRIC

There is a connecting thread throughout my work: weaving, embroidery, mending and color. In the variety of mediums I approach for my artwork; installation, performance, collages and photography - to name a few- I dissect ideas of Dominicaness, femmeness and community. 

 

I.    Weaving Narratives

Tapestries with bright colored islands in seas of yellow or white narrate hours of collaborative performance. These start as old clothes and remnants of fabric, cut and later weaved into a tarp in the tradition of Pellizas, Dominican rag rugs. I use the fabrication of Pellizas as a platform for temporary communities. Interactions are captured in audio and video, which alongside Pellizas help decipher the narratives weaved around communal labor.

 

II.    Embroidering expectations
Golden beads hold small stars in blue laced panties. Beneath this lacy sky I embroider a palm tree and ocean. In other panties, bright and red, I embroidered two palm leaves guarding the words “mia sola” in the front. Long tulle fabric legs have other phrases embroidered. Panties become banners that highlight the sex tourism in the Caribbean. 

 

III.    Mending the self
Old clothes that belonged to my mother in her youth and that later I used. I tear them and proceed to mend different pieces together, rendering them impractical for wearing. These sculptural objects work as props in performances. There I contort and dance, forcing the object to be a vessel for my body. This process is captured in video and photography for A(D)DRESS. The objects become an archive within installations containing old family photographs and the remnants of the performed.

 

IV.    LovingSUITS
Big, baby blue, pink and purple plush hands feel weighted and smell like lavender and frankincense. I invite participants to wear them, embracing their bodies and providing support while the participants respond to questions around love, memory and family. How do we practice love? How do we learn "love"? How do we embody it with ourselves and others?  These interviews are woven multigenerational experiences of Dominicans from diverse households and with varied migration stories. They become an archive for all; to digest and reflect on. When and where is loving suitable?

 

V.    Connecting Thread

All of my work, stemming from the questioning of the self, creates a fabric to challenge notions of identity,  the spaces where we exist and the communities that can be woven at the intersections of these.