Embodied Objects

The frenetic patterns in the Embodied Objects weavings are formed from electromyography (EMG) data collected while performing tasks and expressions with my own body such as squinting, blinking and even unraveling a finished tapestry. The numerical EMG data was visualized in a custom program that was written to repeat, rotate, and randomly colorize the EMG waveforms with a grayscale palette. The series of digitally woven tapestries examines notions of labor and craft as they relate to material and technology. By combining hand and digital processes with traditional textiles and new media technologies, the series destabilizes and interrogates how each is categorized and valued. The narrative implications of these categories are mined for their potential to explore how technology, data, and cultural artifacts mediate our understanding of the human body. I often co-opt disciplines (textiles, medical diagnostics) steeped in exclusionary rules and traditions precisely to have a set of rules to break. By considering rules as “media", I attempt to challenge the historical systems that perpetuate these rules under the guise of expertise. Embodied Objects questions both the veracity of the meaning of the data driving the patterns well as the meaning of the values imbued in traditions of craft.