Artist Statement
Heteronormative ideals of love, romance, sex and sexuality are widely distributed in popular culture and are embedded in a diverse array of objects, design motifs and texts. Sourcing patterned cloth, lace, wallpaper, valentines, romance novels and erotic magazines, I extract the juiciest bits of sexual language and symbolism and piece together objects that transcend the original materials and context. Such new creations are both narrative contemplations and also criticisms of dominant interpretations. Juxtaposing materials and their meanings, I highlight stereotypical differences, but also suggest potential harmony. These works question our larger social constructions of normality and abnormality, pleasure and disturbance, high and low culture, as they pertain to ideas of love, romance, sex and sexuality.
Heteronormative ideals of love, romance, sex and sexuality are widely distributed in popular culture and are embedded in a diverse array of objects, design motifs and texts. Sourcing patterned cloth, lace, wallpaper, valentines, romance novels and erotic magazines, I extract the juiciest bits of sexual language and symbolism and piece together objects that transcend the original materials and context. Such new creations are both narrative contemplations and also criticisms of dominant interpretations. Juxtaposing materials and their meanings, I highlight stereotypical differences, but also suggest potential harmony. These works question our larger social constructions of normality and abnormality, pleasure and disturbance, high and low culture, as they pertain to ideas of love, romance, sex and sexuality.
