I am a thread 1000 grandmothers long

We exist as possibility in the womb of our grandmothers, as cells, as sparks of energy with infinite potential to become.

This means that we may also have the potential to feel the life of our grandmother in our body now, echoes of somatic experiences rippled into the potential that become our bodies and into skin, breathing and alive. What does it mean to feel your ancestors in your cells?

This work is both a textile sculpture and a performance. The textile component of this piece is composed of over a hundred small
ink paintings of my interpretation of cells. Each cell is affixed to the silk material which holds all of the pieces together and cloaks
my body. By cloaking my body in these tiny cells I explore the idea of inherited experiences. The cells of my body tell the wordless
story of my relations most of those I never met. This piece poses the question of all that I carry within my body, cell by cell, which
cells are me and which cells are inherited?

​

I am a thread 1000 grandmothers long (2021) performative photograph, textile, ink, silk, paper