Womban Corset
I created this piece as a “reaction” to my art-making process for an assignment for my Major Studio class this semester. I followed the rule of “no rules” to create the fabric of the corset layering on all of my processes from drawing and writing, to collage, embroidery, and papermaking. When creating this “reaction” the word “Woman” kept echoing in my ear. I paint because I am a woman. I write because I am a woman. I collage because I am a woman. I embroider because I am a woman. I learned to make paper this year because I am a woman. I learned to make clothing at a young age from my grandmother because I am a woman. The interplay of the nurture from my nature has shaped me into the woman I have become from the woman who raised me. In Catholic school as a child, my teacher taught us that the term “Woman” means from “man” because written in the bible a man was lonely so he created a woman to provide him with comfort and children. I thought, but don’t I have the womb? Meaning I have the power to create, so in reality, a man came actually from Woman. Womb-man is is the root of woman. Womban is not from a man, she is the single divine power of herself and within herself. Overall, this piece reflects a reaction to my complex and contradicting experience of being a woman.
Process Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAjTrtHQv0Y
Womban Corset, made from canvas, embroidery cloth, flax fibers, yarn, acrylic paint, charcoal, and recycled quilts, life-size.