Measure Up

The clear-cut forest at the Oregon coast provides evidence of a hacked mother tree. Using color in a highly symbolic manner, a woman in red appears like a fresh wound. A reclining female-figure in a green dress juxtaposed with a light blue sky becomes the landscape, we become the voyeurs.

Measure Up is a body of photographic diptychs exploring the psychological and social implications of how we measure both beauty and devastation. How can our representation of the landscape remain idealized, while the actual use and exploitation of natural resources plays out more brutally? Cultural views of women’s bodies have a parallel to that of the land—purity and perfection are craved over knowledge and realism.

My pieces are informed by the intimacy of the domestic sphere—as experienced through personal stories—as well as the broader exploration of the ongoing issues of women’s work, equity and body image. In much of my art, the motif of a dress has become a thread—serving as a stand-in for the female figure. Images of women’s clothing emerge time and again, revealing another layer of the narrative.  How do our representations of the feminine Measure Up to reality?

Exhibition of this work is on view June and July 2014. pushdot studio.