sociotecture
Work in this gallery explores the relationship of space and identity. The ethno-scape is a concept from Arjun Appadurai, an anthropologist and cultural theorist, who researched the complex network of spatial and object relations embedded in our cultural expressions or concepts. This is an influential framework within my practice as I consider the geologic nature of identity - our ideas of who we are have as much to do with the conceptual work we do as it does with our navigating the physical and material world around us. We are thrust into the world and we create an amazing patchwork of meaning oriented by a constantly fluctuating cultural-compass. Socio-tecture takes the relationship in a new direction with an attunement towards labor and craft. I am interested in exploring the nature of identity and social relations in the context of fabrication, craft and labor. Primarily I am interested in the communal nature of being and unpacking the various ways a society oriented towards individuality creates unethical tools for shaping identity. Space. Identity. Craft. These are fraught sites of cultural activity and subject to the unethical power dynamics of contemporary politics.