I created a cloak as part of my #whatwomenwear clothing artifacts as a metaphor of the mothering energy I carry with me. The cloak is made from gampi fibers, yarn, and embroidery thread, weaving together the bodies, stories, and songlines of the women who raised me. The cloak is the body of a mother, a metaphor for the Goddess Sehkmet. She is warm and inviting, but she can quickly smother. The cloak is the heavy burden on a hot summer day and the warm comfort of a blanket on a cold winter’s night. In Self Portrait Sehkmet the cloak is designed to be shrugged on or off, allowing me to decide when I need her warmth and comfort and when I need to be free from her grasp.

 The lifesize cloak is made from a handmade gampi cloth covered with fibers and yarn and adhesive

Original #whatwomenwear prompt chain letter sent out to the woman in my family and close friends. Participants shared the prompt with woman in their own lives, creating a web of women’s stories and voices. Over 30 letters were sent in as of June 10th. The project is open and I have continued to receive inspiring letters.

 Life size corset made from steel wire, handmade gampi paper with yarn and adhesive, yarn wrapped steel wire dipped in flax fibers, kozo strings, and aluminum clasps.

My work is directed in the 4th wave of American feminism examining how the female figure is represented in mass media and advertisements. In all of my works, I use images of the female figure from typing “woman” into google. I use the bodies from these images to confront the objectification of a woman’s body in mass media and to reclaim and empower their identities, worth, and sexuality.
The patterns formed by the web of bodies I weave together create their own “Songlines,” ancient symbols translated from mother nature’s patterns in tree bark and dirt into the human hand, then carved back into the trees and dirt to tell the stories of time, travel, maps, dreams, and ancestry.