My capstone exploration speaks about my relationships with my sisters, Isabella and Saraphina,
and the deep impact they have had in the formation of my own identity. Through figurative
gestures and stitches in fabric, I communicate the importance of these relationships under
continuous transformation.
and the deep impact they have had in the formation of my own identity. Through figurative
gestures and stitches in fabric, I communicate the importance of these relationships under
continuous transformation.
When we were young, we wore matching Land’s End dresses. Whether our mom dressed us in
these, or it was our idea, I do not remember, but the dresses soon became our uniform. Three
little girls running through the airport, reduced to the orange and white cotton tie-dye we shared.
This reduction was not a bad thing– it kept us together– but finding ourselves individually was
more difficult. Similarity led to comparison and many outside voices became internal dialogues
that we still struggle to separate from our own truths.
Each dress pattern is made from one of our names. From a distance, it’s hard to tell them apart,
but if you spend time with them, their uniqueness becomes apparent. The dresses are a concrete
representation of our sisterhood and compliment my painting practice which is less overt. The
dripping, layered oil paint expresses complexities of our relationships that I can’t fully put into
words– conflicting memories of the same event, birth order, aging, intimacy and disconnection–
what it means to have a sister and what it means to be a sister.