Through large scale forms and installation practices, my work conflates and compares systems of building and systems of the body. Both rely on order to achieve and maintain a high level of function but become vulnerable when this order is interrupted. I examine where this event might occur, looking at the mechanisms both within the body and building. I consider the unseen and overlooked elements, the assumed operations. Pipes hidden behind walls, bringing water to a faucet; the “pipes” through which blood flows, carrying oxygen to our tissue. Operations that occur with little conscious control but contribute to the systems viability. I’m interested in the instability of these interconnected systems, the potential for cascading failure, forcing a conscious response. Often this becomes a point of departure in the work. I look for a push and pull between order and disarray, an attempt to control as form becomes less contained, ultimately becoming more precarious and unstable.

My materials are mainly those used in construction, both the mechanisms that allow for a structure to be built, the tools at hand, and components that hold it together—wood, spackle, sheetrock, glue. The materials can offer line and rigidity but also flexion and fluidity, similar to the body with bone, tendons, and secretions. My forms are driven by merging these qualities, offering elements of order and unpredictability.

Clumps of spackle, overflowing foam, and haphazard supports are remnants of superficial solutions to an issue that run deeper within a system. For example, a broken pipe leaking water cannot be remedied by simply painting over the discoloration where water has begun to penetrate the wall. By covering and concealing I avoid the root of the problem, I place a bandage on the surface, disregarding the potential damage as the issue grows and festers.

@megan_shull