HOLD YOURSELF TOGETHER series, 2017-2018

Hold yourself together is suggestive of the tension that exists in the emotional reckoning and restructuring that is required during a paradigm shift like the one #metoo has inspired.

Women know all too well the societal importance of maintaining composure in the face of objectification, discrimination, injustice, harassment, abuse … and even progress. Whether conscious or subconscious it is a mantra that women have lived by. Hold yourself together – even if you are ripped open, even if you are in danger, even if you are not heard … even when you succeed.

The pieces also suggest the need to be open while in this tensile state, stitching together a new section where the solid has been broken. Holding yourself together requires self-care, welcoming in energy while also being able to also release it. It can be viewed as a singular or collective narrative where the trauma of the past can become fertile ground for constructing a better future. Strength in numbers can mean that we hold each other together and move beyond composure to speaking up, speaking out and speaking about the nuances of change required to bring equity and equality to women in our society.

 HOLD YOURSELF TOGETHER series has been include in the following solo exhibitions: 100 DAYS at the Duluth Art Institute in January-February 2018, THREE SIXTY FIVE at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis from June-August 2018, and PERMISSION at the Finlandia University Gallery in Hancock, Michigan from November 30, 2018 - February 15, 2019.