122″ x 45″ x 50″

Image transfer onto concrete, rebar and mixed media

2022

2022 Emerging Artist

I explore the parallels between architectural space and the human body in my work. Using materials like concrete and rebar, standard building materials that are so common they often go unnoticed, I reference the components of my internal psychic framework. The materials I use are physically heavy, and their weight is both real and implied. Support Structure contains over 9,000 lbs of hand-poured concrete; creating this work was extremely labor intensive. The image on the exterior of the column was applied using a gel image transfer technique which required over 30 hours of scrapping paper off the concrete to reveal the ink that was left behind.

Concrete columns are vital architectural components; columns support the weight of the building. They show visible signs of stress on their surface as if they are visualizing the stress endured from supporting the weight of a building. Support Structure displays these signs of stress through exposed rebar and chunks of concrete broken off the structure, yet the structure remains stable. The stress on this concrete support structure represents the toll that mental health issues take on my body physically and mentally. At what point does physical stress make a seemingly strong and solid form no longer stable or functional?