Stoma (2025)

Materials: Deadstock Yarn, Cassette Tapes, MDO Plywood, Used Dental Floss, Wires, Surgical Tubing, Muslin, Teensy 2.0, Flannel, Circuit Board, Blood, Servo Motor, Blood, Sisal, Carved Pine Wood, Clear Coat Nail Polish

"Stoma" is a new piece in a series of "Vessel" interactive sculptural installations which are constituted of rope constructed from found materials. "Stoma" mimics the swelling of lungs and the opening of closing the stomata on leaves in an intentional blurring of the lines between what is living and what is simulacra; hylomorphism reinstated. My hope for "Stoma" like all of pieces in the body of work that it belongs to, is that in interacting with the art piece as if it were a living being the viewer projects their emotions upon it and enriches their sense of empathy: if I am treating this odd swelling bundle with such care and tenderness why do I not extend the same kindness to myself? Creating art that is "alive" is to also grant it death, serving as an antithesis to the current landscape in art now where pieces are conserved far past their life span and function as investment assets to be bought and sold, traded and to sit in a warehouse where no one sees them. "Stoma" and by extension the rest of the "vessels" exist for the sake of their actuality: they process, hold themselves up, they emit noise, and they breathe for the sake of doing so until they eventually die, just as we do.