Work samples
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BAD MOMA 4 ft. x 3 ft. stuffed pillow, flowers cut and collaged from secondhand fabric.
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La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera2022 A multimedia room installation representing a conversation taking place between a mom and daughter exposing family lineage, the role of caretaker, and the complexities of motherhood. -
BAD MOM
About Monique
Baltimore County
Monique Crabb (b. 1982), a Mexican-American artist whose work represents an interplay of narrative, identity, and symbolism that speaks to the constraints of societal structures and of the human body. Her diverse practice spans textiles, installation, video, and photography, with a focus on traditional craft processes that provide mind-body attunement. Reshaping secondhand fabric and using colors extracted from organic materials she has foraged or grown, allows her the opportunity to… more
Sub Rosa: La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera
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La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera2022 A multimedia room installation representing a conversation taking place between a mom and daughter exposing family lineage, the role of caretaker, and the complexities of motherhood. -
La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera -
La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera -
La Casa de Beatriz Cabrera -
HijaClose up of the quilted verb list on 'Hija' -
MamáClose-up of quilted verb list on Mamá quilt. -
Pixelated Rose Garden2021-2022 Quilt (Machine-pieced with secondhand synthetic and plant dyed fabrics) 119” x 80” After a fight on the night of my parents' honeymoon, my dad said to my mom, "Honey, I didn't promise you a rose garden." I made this rose garden for her.
How Does it Feel
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How Does It Feel23” x 23” Plant & mineral dyed (logwood, fustic wood, iron, weld) -
self portrait20x17" Plant-dyed with organic indigo, cosmos, tannin -
vacancy I & II.jpg24” x 21” Plant-dyed with cosmos, weld, indigo, madder root, black walnuts, logwood, and iron. Stretched in a float frame with mahogany wood and a distressed gold leaf face. Inspired by the Bandy Bandy snake's defense mechanism of looping its body to detract predators. -
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How Does it FeelDid you ever die for a millisecond? Did you ever eat a weed gummy after an intense weekend that involved spreading your dad's ashes in the gulf of Mexico after carrying them around from house to house over the span of 15 years, even losing them at one point, then finally spreading them with one of your 4 brothers and mom, who was wearing a leopard print bathing suit, in an inflatable raft into the warm waters of Galveston not far from the shoreline because it was harder to paddle out than imagined, and the ashes ended up in your mom's face including her mouth, and your brother tells her she deserved it. The next day you visit your other brother at his halfway house and take him to Mcdonald’s for lunch where you watch him devour a big mac with all the sauces running down his face and hands while five TV monitors are airing a zombie show with people being eaten and blood spraying everywhere.
Soft Body
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InwardThe bookends to Soft Body. Dyed with avocado pits, onion skins, black walnuts, tannin, logwood, and iron. The hexagon in nature is mystical and magical. To name only some of the shape’s wonders: It’s an efficient packing shape that we see bees use, most snowflakes under a microscope take on the hexagonal shape, Saturn has a hexagon-shaped storm still churning at its North Pole that was discovered in 1988, water spinning at its highest velocity makes the shape of a hexagon, and Carbon has the molecular structure of a hexagon. Everything begins with Carbon, it is the key ingredient for most life on earth. We are made of several billions of them in our body. The element is even in our DNA and makes up the body from head to toe. -
Outward37 x 42” The bookends to Soft Body. Dyed with avocado pits, onion skins, black walnuts, tannin, logwood, and iron. The hexagon in nature is mystical and magical. To name only some of the shape’s wonders: It’s an efficient packing shape that we see bees use, most snowflakes under a microscope take on the hexagonal shape, Saturn has a hexagon-shaped storm still churning at its North Pole that was discovered in 1988, water spinning at its highest velocity makes the shape of a hexagon, and Carbon has the molecular structure of a hexagon. Everything begins with Carbon, it is the key ingredient for most life on earth. We are made of several billions of them in our body. The element is even in our DNA and makes up the body from head to toe. -
Heat Rises46” x 59” Dyed with madder root, fustic wood and cochineal. An ode to mother earth. A deep connection through the monthly rising heat in my own body. I feel her calling for us to change our behavior, like a mother calls out to her child. -
If We All Cried At Once43 x 43” Dyed with fustic wood + organic indigo. Hand quilted. According to scientific research there are three different types of tears humans produce— Basal, Reflex, and Emotional, and each have their own special combination of enzymes. The combo that make up emotional tears are helpful for regulating the body and bringing it back to a homeostatic level. This piece represents the abstract and wishful notion that if we all cried at once it would balance out all the hurt of our home, both to our bodies and to our earth. -
Vibrations36 x 48” Dyed with cutch, fustic wood, logwood, and iron. Machine pieced / Hand quilted. The human body can generate mechanical vibrations at very low frequencies, scientists call them infrasonic waves. The vibrations are produced by the physiological processes of heartbeats, respiratory movements, the brain, blood flow in vessels and so on. The emotional state of a body effects the vibrations emitted. -
Permanent ShapesDyed with black walnuts, fustic wood, logwood, and iron. raw edge appliqué / embroidered second hand yarn.
Dear You
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Dear You2018 - 2019 66 x 66” Plant-dyed secondhand fabric, hand appliqué and hand quilted A personal story quilt made with all plant dyed second hand fabric about my brother who suffered from Bipolar Schizoaffective Disorder for over twenty years. I worked on this piece for over a year before he passed away. It’s a story of a person whose seasons in life revolved around jails, hospitals, mental institutions, and half way homes. The evolution of this piece is documented through #johnpaulcabreracrabb on instagram with written stories that correlate to selected symbols that honor my brother’s life. -
Dear You / close up
My Chthonic Duty
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My Chthonic Duty2020 Denim, bedsheet ends, cotton napkins, avocado pits, twine, and avocado pit dye. Chthonic Duty speaks to the subterranean, deep-rooted domestic duty of women that society continually shapes and expects . -
My Chthonic Duty (Detail)avocado pits ink used for text on apron -
My Chthonic Duty (Detail)second hand cotton napkins wrapped with twin around avocado pits
BAD MOM
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BAD MOM4 ft. x 3 ft. stuffed pillow
Flowers cut and collaged from secondhand vintage bedsheets and curtains. Appliqued onto a repurposed velvet curtain.
2024
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BAD MOM closeup
BAD MOM
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BAD MOM -
BAD MOM
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BAD MOM -
BAD MOM
Permanent Shapes
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Permanent ShapesPlant-dyed secondhand fabric (black walnuts, fustic wood, logwood, and iron) raw edge appliqué, embroidered second hand yarn.
Inspired by a boarded up window in an Baltimore city alley and to the ones we love and lose who leave permanent impressions on us.
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Permanent ShapesPlant-dyed secondhand fabric (black walnuts, fustic wood, logwood, and iron) raw edge appliqué, embroidered second hand yarn.
Inspired by a boarded up window in an Baltimore city alley and to the ones we love and lose who leave permanent impressions on us.
