In my series Pattern Shifts (1998-2000), I use the female body as the vehicle to explore the human condition – joy, sensuality, loneliness, despair, and the violence that permeates our society. On these predominantly acrylic works on rag paper, I introduced areas of collaged dressmakers’ patterns to form some of the bodies. Symbolically, the dressmakers’ patterns represent the lives we fall into, patterns that measure and define us with clear cutting lines. Paradoxically, an individual may be caught in a struggle to overcome patterns (often imposed by society), while at the same time yearning to remain in place in a pattern of familiarity and safety. The delicate pattern tissue is in itself is a reminder of the fragility of human beings and the frailty of desires.
|
