Unselfing
2025-ongoing
foraged algae textiles
This work emerges from an intimate dialogue with the northern coast of Portugal, where I gathered algae as both material and metaphor. By transforming these fragments of the sea into objects and shrouds designed to wrap, drape, and adorn the human figure, I explore the fragile threshold between body and environment. The algae retains its memory of salt, water, and tidal rhythm, carrying with it the trace of a landscape that is always shifting. These pieces are not only garments but also vessels of care, mourning, and transformation. How can the human body be held by the ocean, not as conqueror or extractor, but as one wrapped in its embrace? How can we attune ourselves to cycles of life and decay, acknowledge our kinship to the more-than-human, and adorn our lives with reverence for the ephemeral?
Turn Away from Yourself (2025), 138 x 96 cm, foraged algae, cotton thread
Only with Waves at My Back (2025), 46 x 180 cm, foraged algae, cotton thread, wood, iron, nails
Entropocene (2025), 20 x 18 cm (variable), foraged algae, cotton thread
Mapping Change (2025), 60 x 70 cm (variable), foraged algae, cyanotype, cotton thread
Something that really excites me right now is the challenge of making work that can be both biodegradable and long-lasting. Long-lasting for collectors or institutions that can provide appropriate care, yet capable of returning to the earth if needed. I don’t fantasize about immortality—for myself or for my work. In fact, I hope my work doesn’t last forever unless it finds a steward. How can art exist in a way that mirrors ecological systems—cyclical, interdependent, and impermanent—while still holding meaning, memory, and care? Working with biomaterials means that I am regularly challenged with researching, experimenting, and learning what is possible.
