| Disability
Born with two digits on each limb.
Statement
I make wearable art that centers on the histories and narratives generated within and performed by the disabled body through everyday social, cultural and political interaction. My work aims to facilitate dialogue between the wearers and the viewers of these objects.
Crip couture focuses on body reconfiguration through mapping the memories and the living experiences of the disabled bodies. My work has altered the purpose of conventional prosthetics and orthotics, which aim to create more-or-less standardized body form and function; I have merged the idea of prosthetics and jewelry to make a range of garments, accessories and footwear. Rather than rejecting the notion of physical alteration, I have created intimate and empathetic bodily adornment, not as a correctional physical aid, but as a tool for remapping and engaging with a new physical terrain, one embodied with personal standards of physical comfort and self-defined ideals of beauty.
As a collection of wearable works, Crip Couture has explored the impact of ethical and medical decisions made about the body; the boundary between ethics and aesthetics; the idea of the body in flux; and body ownership (reclaiming the body). In recent development of Crip Couture, it focuses on the concept of preserving and conserving disability heritage. As the work address disability intimacy and care-relationships, the wearable objects and their wearers call for a recognition of collective Crip experiences and suggest the possibility for a new genre of wearable art, Disability Fashion.
Hairy Undies series documents the experiences of navigating intimacy, trauma and care relationships within disability culture. Materials used in this project was a collection of body hairs that people from my community offered me.
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Skinny, Ongoing
Human skin, silk organza, thread and body cream
varies (object varies, each panel is 11" x 14")
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Skinny, Ongoing
Human skin, silk organza, thread and body cream
varies (object varies, each panel is 11" x 14") |
Skinny, Ongoing
Human skin, silk organza, thread and body cream
varies (object varies, each panel is 11" x 14") |
Hairy Undies Series
fabric, thread and hairs from various people
varies (each undie is 18 x 9)
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Hairy Undies Series fabric, thread and hairs from various people
varies (each undie is 18" x 9") |
Hairy Undies Series fabric, thread and hairs from various people
varies (each undie is 18" x 9")
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Hairy Undies Series fabric, thread and hairs from various people
varies (each undie is 18" x 9") |
Hairy Undies Series fabric, thread and hairs from various people
varies (each undie is 18" x 9") |
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