Be Like A Thorn, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Alfred University, April 2023
Release tree root installation, soil, ceramic bowl with slip, hemp rope covered in porcelain, 2023 Release is an installation composed of video projected above an upturned tree root holding a ceramic bowl with water and porcelain-covered hemp rope. Soil surrounds the tree root on the ground.
A Collective Struggle Wooden platform, glazed ceramic, netting, soil, hardware, 2023 Resistance Vessels 1, 2, and 3 are three ceramic vessels constricted within their own nets that are secured to hardware on the wall. The nets overlap as the pots pull from different directions. They sit on a white half-circle platform with a bed of soil underneath them. Soil covers a majority of the platform and the floor around it.
Exhibition image of Release with tree root installation
Installation View of "Tread Lightly", We Cannot Be Contained, and Cycle of Life // We Are Portals To What Is Unseen
Three quarter view of "Tread Lightly"
Tread lightly Stoneware, metallic stain H 64” w 32” d 18” The representational Black, life-size ceramic sculpture looks like bronze and rich soil. She has short cropped hair and is full-figured. Thorns protrude outward from the gauges in her ears and her body. Fragments of fabric on the thorns on her arms.
Like A Thorn, side profile Glazed stoneware, 2023 Like A Thorn is a ceramic figure of a Black woman who is an amputee, seated with their legs and the surrounding base as a bed of thorns. Her pose is relaxed and her gaze is fixed ahead. She is wearing a flowing dress, caked and cracking like dried earth. Her skin and surroundings fluctuate between golden bronze, dark brown, and black.
Detail shot of the upper body of "Like A Thorn"
Detail shot of the base of "Like A Thorn"
Cycle of Life // We Are Portals To What Is Unseen Wooden frame, botanicals, deconstructed wheelchair, soil, tree roots Dimensions variable A tall cylindrical wooden frame holds a wheelchair seat. Below it, dirt and an array of live plants and tree roots create a forest-like scene. The greenery highlights the red and black berries and fills the bottom half of the structure.
Detail of Cycle of Life // We Are Portals To What Is Unseen
Body Stigma - what I am and am not Ceramic, silk brocade, netting, spray paint, 2022 H 47” W 18” D 16” The figure is partial from the feet to mid-torso. Two hands are attached around the waist, displaying different qualities of pain, one through a bubbly surface and the other through engaging with the wound on the side of its body. Various glazes and spray paint are splashed on the body, like tar. Soil fills the vessel of the body and surrounds the piece.