Christy Ferrato

Lives and works in Durango, CO, USA

Artist statement

Poet, artist, educator and performance artist, I explore the interrelationship of poetry with other art forms. My work spans a broad spectrum of mixed media expressions that transcend the limitations implicit in a single form of creative expression, and challenge viewers to rethink the definitive boundaries between poetry, music, visual art, installation, and performance art. Caught in the crossfire of being a fighter pilot's daughter with an objecting conscience, my upbringing provided the underpinnings for a collection of work that is simultaneously deeply personal and universal. My work reflects deep consideration of questions of social justice, which are integral to work that is responsive to historical omission and erasure, and gives voice to what has been lost in the shadows of silence.

Artwork

• Preservation, 2018. MIxed - card catalogue, wool nests, engraved bullet casings, audio recording
• Locus Communis, 2021. Selected text on 2'x3' plexiglass panels
• Nana Shrine, 2002. Mixed - shrine installed inside a leather 1934 edition of the New Encyclopedia of Texas
• Ghost Image, 2008. American Maple shadow box with nine erasure pages from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, looping audio
• Ward 54, 2010. American Maple Shadox Box, 7 Erasure Pages From Muriel Rucykesyser's, "The Lynching Of Jesus."Looping Video From The Invasion Of Baghdad
• Saffron Threads, 2010. Buddhist Monk's Robe, Crystal Beads, Looping Audio, Wind
• Bookend, 2023. Wooden Artist's Maniken, Miniature Banned Books
• Opposition, 2023. Wooden Artist's Maniken, Clay Figures, Brass Fish, Brass Peace Symbol
• What Sticks In My Throat Are The Fishbones of My Complicity, 2021. Leather coin purse, teeth, fishbone