2. UNSTABLE ENTITY
[2021-present]
Unstable Entity uses photographs and architectural constructs to explore balancing and tipping points within culturally unstable expectations of female strength, resilience, and bodily performance. The work compares bodily forms to ad-hoc assemblages that are tenuously balanced using common building materials. Within this juxtaposition is a meditation on the body and the unsettled standards of what it means to be a “strong woman” alongside the structures that often fail us. The collage of forms speculates on the relationship of female strength to intimidation, sexuality, and desire as well as the individual stamina required to pursue both mental and physical wellness. Female bodybuilders enter the work as a form of archetype or heroic body representing a maximized performance of strength and physicality. The artist’s performances pursue stamina, wavering balance, and the labor associated with managing the collision of roles between being the subject and operator of the photograph. The work is a montage of layered priorities that speaks to the performative nature of strength, the precarious temporality of the “ideal,” and the psychological safety of inhabiting and being present in a body.
