Our connective tissue gives our bodies form and cohesion. The quandary of a thesis found me looking for the connective tissue that binds my work together, supports it, and gives it recognizable form. While percolating on the matter, I gave myself permission to dig into my archive of images and bring out those that I did not consider “work” to pair alongside the images that I do consider formal work. As I contemplated the mishmash, I wrote down words that came to mind: kin, shed, molt, fell, identity, mask, growth, change, loss, abandonment, mortality, memorialization, memory, time, nostalgia, absurdity, humor. That brought me to the title of this exhibition: Exuviae.
Exuviae are cast skins, shells, or other coverings of animals. The connections in my work are found in that which is shed and consequently remembered or memorialized. The foundation of growth and change is that which is lost or abandoned. The ensuing nostalgia provides room for the humor and absurdity of identity to transform over time and finally to die.