Fall 2018
The Mend project originated from the colloquial phrase
“Shit Show”.
Nearing the end of my college career, I realized I had amassed a ton of drawings/prints/sculptures/etc that were crucial to the development of my thesis, but not quite stand alone, show-worthy pieces. Not wanting to toss them away, but also not wanting them to be shown in a ‘white-cube’, the Mend project was born.
Fellow students eagerly donated parts of their collections of old work, materials they never used, or discarded scraps to me. This speaks to the notion that most artists are organized hoarders, holding onto materials because they might one day need them.
The materials were handed over with the knowledge they would not be returned and instead, would be altered by me through acts of collage, sewing, and drawing to become part of an all-encompassing installation.
What had begun as a satire to the hoarding nature of artists ended in something much bigger than me. Sifting, sorting, and inventorying the materials over and over again positioned me as an archaeologist of sorts; discovering the hidden ‘culture’ of the student body I had gathered items from. Some items were given without context, yet I began to feel a familiar connection to the items as one would feel to a family heirloom. So much so that at the end of the gallery show, All Together Now, which housed the installation I felt the need to address the ‘ghosts’ in the room; the lingering essence of the persons who had given me their items. In a way, I had gathered the student body of the Kansas City Art Institute into a singular space and connected them through the things they owned.
“Shit Show”.
Nearing the end of my college career, I realized I had amassed a ton of drawings/prints/sculptures/etc that were crucial to the development of my thesis, but not quite stand alone, show-worthy pieces. Not wanting to toss them away, but also not wanting them to be shown in a ‘white-cube’, the Mend project was born.
Fellow students eagerly donated parts of their collections of old work, materials they never used, or discarded scraps to me. This speaks to the notion that most artists are organized hoarders, holding onto materials because they might one day need them.
The materials were handed over with the knowledge they would not be returned and instead, would be altered by me through acts of collage, sewing, and drawing to become part of an all-encompassing installation.
What had begun as a satire to the hoarding nature of artists ended in something much bigger than me. Sifting, sorting, and inventorying the materials over and over again positioned me as an archaeologist of sorts; discovering the hidden ‘culture’ of the student body I had gathered items from. Some items were given without context, yet I began to feel a familiar connection to the items as one would feel to a family heirloom. So much so that at the end of the gallery show, All Together Now, which housed the installation I felt the need to address the ‘ghosts’ in the room; the lingering essence of the persons who had given me their items. In a way, I had gathered the student body of the Kansas City Art Institute into a singular space and connected them through the things they owned.
All Images © Alyza Perez