What is Held

What is Held explores what it means to be holding by merging what we hold within our internal chambers into our external relationships. Three large ceramic bodies serve as containers that hold moments within them. Cascades of crocheted leather cord — a soft material camouflaged as a rigid chain — intertwine and twist outwards to connect the vessels together, creating a moment of collective holding where internal experiences are shared and merge into a communal body. When a viewer approaches the work, they become a part of the act of holding space. Their physical presence is surrounded by the cords, and they can look deeply inside each vessel to explore what each container holds within.

Inside each vessel, the viewer will find whimsical childhood drawings hidden on the weathered surface, subtle moments of softness filled into small crevices, and the remains of departed animals and insects nested within the container. Together, these elements reflect on the dichotomies held within the self; they acknowledge our gentleness, grief, vulnerabilities, barriers, innocence, and joy as parts of us that exist in one shared space. They recognize what we hide from others and reward those who look deeply within to seek understanding.

What is Held considers the shape of our vulnerabilities and reflects on what it takes to become soft, what it takes to become hardened, and what it means to hold both.

***You can listen to my artist talk about What is Held here.

Ceramic, leather cord, yarn, remains, used kiln bricks, 67” x 72” x 56”