UC Riverside

This body of work, Baby Teeth, Flamingo Feet—All the Flesh That’s in Between, began with a poem titled HAUNCHES: Form Bottom form Legs, Thighs, Haunches Thunderous Power Voluminous, delicate Support, movement Power Ripples, Grooves, Tendons, Stretch, Adjust, Move Power Haunches What I see when I look up A Mothers legs Rippled, speckled thighs Power

It grew, as all bodies do, into a a form embodying memory, energy, the collective, the powerful and abject nature of the flesh body. It is an exploration of the corporeal female form, the lower half of the body, the haunches, reproductive organs, both the internal and external of these appendages. I view the body as a physical entity, formed in a hyper specific manner, but material in its existence and limitations none the less. The material existence of bodies gives rise to the question of energy, inherent and imbedded within, providing what is considered “life” to an otherwise stagnant form. I am interested in this contradiction, the simultaneous presence of power and strength in the legs of an animated body, while possessing a sense of fragility, able to somehow maintain an ephemeral and seemingly contradictory state. I explore the abject nature of materials and forms created and exuded from the body, hair, teeth, nails and cysts. I relate this to the experience and perspective of being raised by strong powerful women. In my sculptural work I use scale, form and gesture to recreate these specific feelings.