Ophelia Arc

Lives and works in Providence, RI, USA

Artist statement

Obsession functions as the driving force behind my practice, which spans across textile, sculpture, and collage, exploring the fluidity between each medium. My work is done by hand, whether that be hand-sewing, crocheting, or drawing. Doing each aspect myself becomes crucial in the control I have over the object and the process. It also functions as a testament to my existence, a reminder of presence even when working through dissociative states. The focus on materiality within my object-making is accompanied by a feminist-based research practice which situates itself within the realm of theory, philosophy, and psychoanalytic text. Psychiatrist Domina Petric defines the term 'psychological knot' as a tangled configuration of thoughts, emotions, or beliefs stemming from trauma. This knot is where I begin my research and, though a mutative process, I work to deconstruct and then re-stitch everything back together. Using the works of writers such as Susan Sontag, D.W. Winnicott, Julia Kristeva, and Siri Hustvedt, I work to analyze fragments of my childhood and subjecthood. Overarching themes can be grouped into various pairs of contradictions such as care/malice, starvation/consumption, and melancholia/mania. I see all of my work as a form of skin—whether taut over frames, sutured onto paper, or stuffed into three-dimensional form. They are subject to constant care and harm, mutilating and mending, echoing life's paradoxes.

Artwork