“Soft Terrain” is an ongoing body of work of sculptures built with steel, aluminum, copper and wax. Humans are bodies of water with ecosystems and biomes within them. As bodies of water, we leak through tears, sweat, menstruation and urine among other bodily fluids. I explore fluidity through both concept, form and material through this ongoing body of work that I began working on 2023. I work with steel, cast iron, aluminum and bronze, combined with wax and copper. The steel tube began to play a vital formal role in my work as I was pursing this research in 2023. There is a vulnerability in the rigid materials that shelter our bodies, and the possibility of leak evokes osmosis and cross pollination. I also bring softness to my material through the process of wounding steel and squishing copper, which is also connotative of temporality and a fear of mortality. Lately, I transitioned to incorporate representations of leaks and wounds, such as in Pleasure in the Confusion of Boundaries. This interplay of squishy texture yet visible metal surface creates an uncanny feeling and leads to more and deeper observation. 

Metal casting is centered on the idea of metamorphosis. An often-ephemeral object like wax turns into iron, aluminum or bronze, which is more durable and everlasting (but not un-meltable). This play and shift with time is essential since it also captures fluidity in a frozen state. These very processes of change and beginnings and ends are both present in our own bodies and the ecosystem. Material vitality is a testament that humans can’t hold themselves separate. We are one and the same. I reject dualistic visions and encourage thinking of interconnectedness by building biomorphic forms and amorphous abject shapes that contain multiple connotations. 

“Molting” is an ongoing sculptural series examining transformation, transience, and the porous boundary between organic and industrial systems. The work draws from biological processes of shedding and regeneration, using casting and electroforming to create forms that resemble skins, husks, or infrastructural remnants. Electroforming reflects natural cycles of regeneration as simultaneously there a decay and growth happening. These objects appear caught in moments of transition. Through surface erosion and hybrid materiality, “Molting” frames change as a slow, embodied process, where growth is inseparable form loss, and remnants become evidence of ongoing becomings.

Surface is skin; skin is containment. Amorphous shapes have a sense of agency as blobs can also be spills and leakages, the residue of accident and chance or an aftermath of a body. Surfacing, is an installation of cast iron with drywall appearing to burst through the walls. There is tension, itch and unease in these rupture point. The body heals fast, yet it is unbothered by the scab’s appearance. I’m fascinated by the primal, elemental and nostalgic qualities of iron. The metal we melt comes from old radiators, which are given new life. Transformed from an object that was a part of a building system mediating life, it becomes a symbolic object encouraging thinking about building systems and illness in structures and societies. 

The scabs, lesions, or hives are pushing through the surface of the wall. Are they a response to a cut, burn, infection or allergy? They suggest the consequence of an interaction, as the structure has become sick. The work does not offer solace. It is time to ring the alarm bells. It is already spreading. Something larger and more imminent is festering underneath and within the walls of the institution. When viewed from the side these bodily elements also appear like landscapes. There is a merging of boundaries. Surfacing is both building, body and landscape.