"For Flags" consists of four different pulps created from four pairs of pants, rusted and useless. Displayed in a row of flags, the piece explores patriotism and the utilitarian turned functionless as well as industrial advances, fashion, and our shared history of labor in a common American work garment. Each color is a result of pulping separate pairs of the artist's used work pants. The image was created directly from the seams of the same pants by applying and rusting an iron coating. Sheets were produced in the artist's vacuum table.
Each flag is 3' x 4'.
My work focuses on how industry shapes our individual and collective landscape as seen in our environments and bodies. Our bodies hold the wear and tear of living and the memories of our labor. I seek out the remnants of past labor both on my own physicality and in my surroundings, compressing the past and present in layered sculptures, prints, video works, performances, installations, and related ephemera. Primarily working with hand papermaking and iron casting, I combine a variety of forms, materials, and processes to create conceptually driven artworks integrating multiple histories.