Birch Bark Corset
Birch Bark Corset
birch bark, hardware, thread, lace
15"x12"x16"
Created through the act of skinning and gathering bark from birch trees, the corsets are the embodiment of nature represented in the human form. I see these works as a way that I can enter the forest in the same way that I do while collecting the materials in the initial stages of their conception as well as enter into a landscape representative of my childhood home in rural Alberta.
Through the rigorous process of gathering, reforming and attaching these materials to create the female form, I celebrate their beauty through my domination and subjugation of the material as well as draw parallels to the hierarchal structures which exist within the male female relationship. Through this labor , I try to pay tribute to the traditional male female roles present in my family history, while also drawing parallels to how the female role has been constrained by cultural hierarchies despite her considerable and more central position as it relates to the natural world.