Elizabeth Alexander

Artist Statement

A companion piece for Patton Norwall Lemur Green, constructed during the quarantine using scraps of wallpaper left over from wallpapering my hallway. Perhaps I came to this pattern out of necessity, perhaps I was channeling Charlotte Perkins Gillman's essay 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' but either way I was responding to the change in relationship that the whole world experienced with our homes during shelter in place and isolation early in 2020.

Cast paper, sculptural collage, and altered objects are my methods for deconstructing domestic vignettes of traditional success and beauty. Long hours of unmaking and rebuilding found materials provide space to record memories and observations as I reexamine supposed truths within the domestic sphere. Repetitive processes become internal centering elements as I work to carefully break down these concepts. 

The ubiquitous notion of the American home as a symbol for status, power, values, and security has led me to examine my own relationship with home and consider its untidy qualities. Living with and loving others who battle mental illness and chronic pain has complicated my experience with private space. I aim to unearth the human presence within our material surroundings and explore home as a place that is shaped by our stories and bears witness to our secret lives.

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