Tethered

— 43” x 28 Archival Pigment Prints —

Tethered
Archival Pigment Prints mounted on aluminum

Throughout history, there have been stereotypes regarding women artists having families. Today, many women artists reject this stereotype, opting for being both a mother and an artist. Many draw from their new family dynamics, and multi-dimensional perspectives to inform their art. Tethered is an ongoing project that investigates both the intimacy and diverse roles we play over a lifetime. The first iteration of this work, Tethered was created when I was in graduate school struggling to keep up with schoolwork, my art-making practice, and a mother of two toddlers. I began trying to compartmentalize my life--on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I would be a practicing artist working in my studio; on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I would stay home and be a full-time mother. This never worked. In comparison to past generations where work and family life rarely converged, I soon realized that technology today causes our roles to fold over on each other continuously. Thus, resulting in our lives becoming more confused, intermingled, and merged.

Process: Pulling from thousands of images, I choose 4 to 6 images from the same time of day but on different days of the week (e.g. 2:00pm-4:00pm) to work with. I digitally break down these images into vertical slices based on a mathematical equation. I then build a new image using all the vertical slices to create a single, compressed image of time. Once compressed, and as in real life, all the different interactions inevitably merge into a singular life experience.

Due to the mathematical equation used to create the work, the images DO NOT translate to digital format as well as they do in person. Occasionally, the images appear as smooth montages, but they are created by meticulously positioning the vertical strips of multiple images next to one another to create one image. Although they are often mistaken for lenticular prints in person, they are flat prints.