Michele Jaquis
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Artist statement
I work simultaneously on multiple long-term projects across a range of media to explore personal, social and political relationships. I combine strategies of conceptual and process art, documentary and social practices - but still think of myself as a sculptor. In recent projects I deconstruct and repurpose found textiles, American flags and knit or crocheted items made by deceased relatives, to unpack our current political situation. I digitally print, draw and embroider multi-lingual text to proclaim statements of cross-cultural solidarity. I engage in and record conversations about difficult topics to bridge differences and build empathy. This work helps me make sense of the world and connect with others. For me, the physical, social and emotional processes of making and engaging with art are just as important as what is ultimately made.
Artwork
- unraveled and remade, 2026. acrylic yarn from deconstructed crocheted blanket
- unraveled (his parents didn't attend the wedding because she was Jewish), 2026. HD video loop with stereo sound
- DEI IS NOT A CRIME, 2025. public intervention with three rolls of custom printed caution tape
- Fifty Constellations, 2026. ongoing series of altered American flags, brass hooks and grommets
- Fifty Constellations, 2025. ongoing series of altered American flags, brass hooks and grommets
- joy is an act of resistance, 2024. white stripes from deconstructed American Flags with thread and embroidery floss
- how can you celebrate at a time like this, 2024. site specific installation w/ deconstructed American flags
- Shelf Life, 2023. altered American flags and wooden box
- What't Left to Hold Us Together?, 2022. altered American flag
- American (...to have possibility), 2023. embroidery on altered American flag
- American (a lot of work to do), 2022. embroidery on altered American Flag
- American (a complicated Mess), 2022. embroidery on altered American flag
- American (confront the things I was raised to believe), 2022. embroidery on altered American Flag
- video stills from Dearest Pauline (or how I earned my US citizenship), 2022. four hour, three channel, HD video installation w/ stereo sound (in production since 2018)
- excerpt of Dearest Pauline (or how I earned my U.S. citizenship), 2022. split screen version of four hour, three channel, HD video installation w/ stereo sound (in production since 2018)
- We Are All Americans (seasons 1-3, 2018-2021), 2021. socially engaged documentary project in the form of an oral history recording workshop series and an audio podcast
- We Are Here, Together (installation views at Cerritos College Art Gallery), 2021. graphite, color pencil and water color on paper, embroidery on canvas, remnants of unraveled sweater originally made by the artist's Austrian-American great-grandmother.
- highlights from Collaborating with my five year old son while social distancing., 2020. multi-media
- Paul's Brain (installation views at PØST Kamakazi 2019), 2019. 2 ch. HD video installation with stereo sound, sculptures, drawings made in collaboration with and inspired by Paul Pattison, a long time friend who suffered from epilepsy.
- Paul's Brain, 2018. split screen version of 2 ch. HD video installation with stereo sound
- Dearest Pauline, 2018. water color and pencil on ink jet prints
- Negotiations, 2016. HD video with stereo sound (collaboration w/ the artist's husband, Jeremy J. Quinn)
- Say Nigh (I thought she was counting), 2015. 3 channel HD video installation w/ approx. 1200 nails and mixed media paintings by Mi Sung Yoon (at DAC Gallery).
- Say Nigh (I thought she was counting), 2015. split screen version of 3 ch. HD video installation with stereo sound
- Things We've Heard, 2013. HD video with stereo sound
- I have to tell you something, but I don't know how., 2011. HD video with stereo sound