For this series of editioned photographs, I used images of women convicted of violent crimes to construct a suite of sewn sculptures, then arranged the figures and photographed them as portraits. The transmutation of source image to sculpture to photograph produces an ambiguous space that complicates the relationship between object and image, mimicking the process by which history creates archetypes from individuals. The titles are drawn from gospel songs that epitomize themes of transgression, damnation, and redemption, while the face of each figure has been collaged from images of different women—thereby functioning not as portraits of specific individuals, but rather as reflections of the gendered narratives such images are meant to carry. Dramatically lit and arranged into conspicuously strange poses, the figures operate as avatars of society’s fascinated repulsion for women who have violated cultural norms of “feminine” behavior through violence. This project was supported by a 2021 grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council.
Installation view of Some Women at Nine Gallery in Portland, Oregon, July 2022. More installation views below.
Mercy is Greater, 2022; archival pigment print; 35 × 23.3 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Everything That Has Breath, 2022; archival pigment print; 11 × 7.3 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
What You Were Called, 2022; archival pigment print; 25.75 × 17 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Turn Your Sorrows, 2022; archival pigment print; 30 × 20 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Heart that Burns, 2022; archival pigment print; 18 × 12 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Walk Alone, 2022; archival pigment print; 23 × 15.63 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
When Morning Comes, 2022; archival pigment print; 33 × 22 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
And Daughters, 2022; archival pigment print; 33 × 22 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Song for Mama, 2022; archival pigment print; 17 × 11.3 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Salt and Light, 2022; archival pigment print; 30 × 20 inches, unframed. Ed. 3 + 1AP
Installation view of Some Women at Nine Gallery in Portland, Oregon, July 2022.
Installation view of Some Women at Nine Gallery in Portland, Oregon, July 2022.
Installation view of Some Women at Nine Gallery in Portland, Oregon, July 2022.