DEEP IN THE HEART OF
2024 Texas Woman's University Thesis Exhibition
Deep In the Heart Of is an exploration of my experience coming of age as a woman in East Texas. My work explores taking aspects of the visual culture of Tyler, as well as Texas in general, out of their intended context and explores their potentially contradictory associations. Notions of femininity, home, and agency are explored through the combination and manipulation of materials and found and created imagery. Humor is also implemented through wordplay and imagery combinations, satirizing and critiquing the hyper-feminine expectations that still are relevant today in Texas.
My work is aesthetically related to Robert Rauschenberg’s Hoarfrost series, where images were printed intuitively onto thin fabrics and layered on top of each other. The work also relates to Eva Hesse in terms of her emphasis on process, repetition, and material exploration through the combination of unconventional materials. Cinema has always been a huge inspiration on my art and life, and this body of work relates to the films of David Lynch, specifically his 1984 film Blue Velvet, in the juxtaposition of the beautiful exterior of small-town America and its dark and twisted interior. Use of dream-like imagery printed on sheer fabrics and overlays implemented also reference his work and film transitions. Barbara Kruger and Martha Rosler are important to the elements of contradictions and juxtapositions, as well as aspects of humor and femininity. Miriam Schapiro’s concept of femmage is extremely important in terms of combining “feminine” related materials.
Intuition and play are key components to my process, utilizing collage as my primary medium. I begin by going out into the world to antique shops or doing online research through archives, collecting objects and imagery that spark interest. I take these things and create raw materials through prints, physical manipulations, and other already accessible materials, and then begin combining them through intuition.
This exploration is important because it explores my sense of place through the combination of imagery and materials, in search of my concept of home and identity. My work is important to those who don’t feel quite at home in their current geographical position, as well as those who identify with growing up as a woman in the southern United States. My audience also includes those who grew up feeling or generally feel isolated in their home due to overprotection or control. Texas Woman's University students could relate to moving from their hometown to somewhere new.