Date of Submission

Spring 2024

Academic Program

Studio Arts

Project Advisor 1

Julianne Swartz

Abstract/Artist's Statement

From my diverse family to random strangers I meet in my everyday life, making connections with people has become such a big part of my life. Everyone I have met has shaped who I am today. I wanted to highlight how even though we come from different places, cultures, and backgrounds, we can still form the closest bonds with people we never would have expected. I knew I wanted to create something to communicate comfort and something to display a series of hands, which led me to use yarn and clay as mediums.

The two crocheted blankets took me approximately 275 hours to complete. The larger blanket represents the world’s currently recognized sovereign states, while the smaller one acknowledges 11 non-sovereign states: Antarctica, England, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Taiwan, Tibet, and Wales. There is an additional square that does not represent a non-sovereign state: I see that as an open square, an unknown space, because the future is unknown.

Each square’s color scheme is taken from the colors of that state's flag. I formed each granny square starting from the center and expanding out. If a nation’s flag contains 2 colors, the square’s design takes the form of a spiral pattern. Flags with 3 colors were rendered as a solid square, while flags with 4 colors resemble a sunburst. Flags with 5 colors are designed as a classic granny square, and those with 6 or more colors appear as a circle that turns into a square. Not all the squares reflect their designated pattern because I am a human, not a machine.

The second part of my project is a series of clay tiles. This portion of the project took about 64 hours to complete. I chose to do a series of hands because there are so many ways we use our hands to connect with others. Some people communicate through sign language, some like to make gestures while talking, and one of the most common gestures when we meet new people is shaking hands. The participants included friends as well as strangers I recruited and then got to know better through this process.

Some people volunteered to cast half their hands in plaster, while others chose to imprint their hands directly onto a clay tile. The complete collection of tiles will be displayed for about a week. Then I will ask those who volunteered to take a Polaroid photo with their tile and replace their tile with the photograph. I want to showcase how people can come into our lives and also leave our lives. However, just because a person leaves does not mean that they do not stay with us in some way.

The roots of my project grew from thinking about my family and friends and how I wanted to incorporate them into my work. I am an international adoptee who was raised in a mixed household with people of three different races, born in three different countries. I wanted to showcase that we can form connections with anyone, from anywhere, for any number of reasons.

The exhibition also features a map of the world where people can pin the place where they identify with the most. Visitors are invited to reflect on their connections and their place in the world, and may place a pin on the map in the location they personally identify with most.

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