Lifejacket

Title: Lifejacket
Time/Place: 2021 Seaview, Washington

Size: 25″ x 15″ x 4″
Materials: fabric/canvas from discarded beach-lounge-chairs, roadside-found straps

Details (condensed):
Using the process of sewing a lifejacket at this specific time I am addressing my own fear of displacement and flailing attempts at survival during a pandemic. Through this work I explore the general notion of survival mechanisms that we might implement in our lives to provide a sense, albeit potentially false perception of safety, in order to live in a place of fear or under constant threat of danger.

Details (expanded):
Using the process of sewing a lifejacket at this specific time I am addressing my own fear of displacement and flailing attempts at survival during a pandemic. Through this work I explore the general notion of survival mechanisms that we might implement in our lives to provide a sense, albeit potentially false perception of safety, in order to live in a place of fear or under constant threat of danger. My process of making my work involves salvaging and constructing my pieces from discarded materials specific to place. Looking at generated waste provides one of the layers in which I learn about the community I am living in. It provides specific information about my community as well as an entrance into emotions that I may be unaware of or unable to touch in any other way. Sewn with the ubiquitous discarded beach lounge chairs from this tourist-drawn beach town area, Lifejacket touches on adaptability, resourcefulness and stewardship, thus a reconnect with each other and the environment that I desperately need in order to survive.