Apocalypse

Creating these textiles with what is available to me in my apartment was challenging; I was able to create a sustainable studio practice that relied on the materials that were available. To create my matrixes I was able to use linoleum, MDF board, paper stencils, collagraphs, my hands, and wood blocks. Printing the textiles I used techniques including rubbing with oil pastels, stamping with a kitchen sponge with acrylic ink, and some include hand embellishing with paint brushes or hand marks.

In this work I wanted to expose my home and what it was like to move from a rural community to and urban city. I wanted to compare personal communication, personal privacy, relationships with my female family members, environmental hygiene, urbanization of a neighborhood, the suburbs, and abusive relationships. Growing up in a rural community as a gay man and still exploring my gender identity I found that coming home from college during breaks I always get weird looks about how I dress, what I do, who I am, and Where I came from. People’s perspectives of me have changed at home and it is hard to tell if it is a positive change within a conservative community. Moving back to an urban environment during a pandemic and being home for practically a year my accent came back when I talk, I had southern etiquette when conversing and always being polite, but I also viewed the city differently because of the stimulation that was happening around me.

In the rural community where I am from, you have to do what you want by yourself but your neighbors will help you out of social etiquette; in the city you are doing everything by yourself, but have unlimited access to everything you could ever want. Limiting my materials to what was around me in my apartment challenged me to focus on what I can do for myself and give an outlet to all that was happening around me. An apocalypse is defined as a catastrophic event, and moving between these two communities during college felt like I had to rely on what I had for my own artistic survival in a world that was in a social catastrophe.