Trust Exercises
Hand embroidery on cotton, 2015
Trust Exercises is a body of work stemming from a series of mark making. The repetitive stitching serves as a meditation for contemplating uncertainty and an attempt at embracing the unknown. The canvases simultaneously conceal and reveal the intricate and textured surfaces that are a direct result of mental processing; a way of making the intangible processes of thought, worry, and resolution tangible.
This work was originally exhibited alongside a series of embroideries by Angel Sta. Teresa. Angel and I have found strong parallels in our art practices and work from the beginning of our relationship. Continuing to discover theses commonalities as studio mates has been reaffirming and inspiring. While working on these bodies of work independently, we noticed similarities in our tendency towards deliberate and repetitive methods of mark making, resulting in accumulations that take on new forms and energies. We were even more intrigued when we discovered that we had both been calling these bodies of work ‘trust exercises’.
Trust Exercises is a result of our practices overlapping in our individual navigations of pattern, mark making, and accumulations as well as intimate explorations of thought, perseverance and trust.