SEALED FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION
The intent of this installation was to celebrate intellectual freedom and to remind library patrons of their constitutionally protected right to read what they please.
Embedded in the stacks throughout the library were approximately 40 books that I sealed shut with encaustic (a mixture of beeswax and resin) which rendered them completely inaccessible, except for a small hole drilled in each cover. Through this hole, an authoritative eye peers out from the frontispiece, seeing all who try to gain access to its forbidden pages.
I chose books for this installation that had a history of being banned, challenged, or censored for social, political, moral, or religious reasons. Some cases involved the removal of books from school and public libraries, and classroom reading lists. Other books had been banned by state authorities, with some subjected to public book burning events. I acknowledged these histories by placing inside the front cover of each book a card that gave an account of why and where the book was banned, challenged, or censored, and by whom.
The active part of this installation invited library visitors to search the stacks for the banned books, which could be located by their catalogue card numbers. The books were labeled “SEALED FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION”, which inferred that the contents of the books were dangerous to the individual or society at large.
The true threat is not having access to the information held within. As Americans, we are granted intellectual liberties that people in many other societies do not enjoy. Yet there are many restrictions still.
Personal Vanitas
This series is an inward exploration of my personal struggles with bipolar disorder. The images symbolize the vanity that accompanies episodes of mania and the despair that comes with the disease’s depressive symptoms. The anatomical references serve as reminders that despite societal stigmatization, mental illnesses are like all other diseases in that they are physiological in origin. It is my hope that my openness about my own condition will stimulate discourse and lessen the stigma that surrounds mental illness.
The Patriarch’s Guide to Gynecology
In 2012, I was invited to participate in a group exhibit in San Antonio titled Governing Bodies. Inspired by the seemingly outrageous Texas Legislature’s proposal to restrict abortion law, most women had no idea what was too soon to be lost. The invitation to the show motivated me to revisit a recurring theme in a lot of my artwork, the subject of women’s reproductive health and our right to autonomy over our own bodies.
Using encaustic, a type of paint made of beeswax and damar resin, evokes visceral and flesh-like associations. The linear graphic images I carved into the surface are derived from engraved illustrations in 19th century medical textbooks and catalogues. While these images were perhaps intended in their original context to be scientific and objective, by today’s standards, they are laden with misogynistic meaning.
In this case, the patriarchal disregard for women’s health is remarkably clear. I find the appropriated images shocking, yet grotesquely intriguing. The presence of disembodied masculine hands inserting “modern” mechanical tools into the bodies of women serve as a metaphor for some of the absurdly invasive and counter-progressive mandates that were proposed across this nation during the 2012 election year cycle.
I hope these antiquated images instill in the viewer a sense of irony. The 20th-century gains of women’s reproductive rights are being eroded faster than we could have believed in 2012.
“Detained”
I created this series in 2009 in response to reports of the treatment of families held in immigration detention centers, such as the Tent City in Raymondville, Texas. These images are constructions made with willing participants and do not depict any actual detainees or prison systems. At the time I made them, entire families, including children, were housed in prison-like conditions. This was a new and shocking horrific realization that such inhumane treatment of migrants was occurring.
As of today, with what we know about the ongoing treatment of migrant families, this situation has become endemic. These images that seemed like an exaggeration in 2009 have become commonplace reality.