Protected Vulnerability

2020
Lisa Sette Gallery

In the spring of 2019, I took a course at the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London that focused on Zouaq Moroccan pattern-making. The use of geometric patterning found in Moroccan culture spoke to me and triggered a curiosity to see it applied through my western lens.

I have an armor. At times, it’s an impenetrable shield I hide behind to protect myself. At other times it’s porous, transparent without protection. With this exhibition I want to reveal the tenderness behind those shields in an attempt to show what’s hidden.

They say we connect when we share our vulnerabilities with others but I find that I am scared of sharing those vulnerabilities – harboring a fear of getting hurt or shamed for my intense emotions. I find that the older I get, the less shame I feel and the more I want to be vulnerable in front of others.

With this show, I have incorporated elements of the techniques I learned with my own visual language of intricate layers of patterns which reveal and shield simultaneously. In each work, I hope one might meditate on our own Protected Vulnerability.