My monster series reflects on and makes use of society’s discarded items, and it uses them to explore the figure of the monster. Monsters offer us metaphors for existing beyond the parameters of capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy. The figures and images I create are informed by the figure of the monster; a political symbol that has been used in both liberating and oppressive ways throughout history. I choose to create art depicting my imagined monsters as figures symbolising resistance to a system that continues to fail us. My work is intended to assist us to think critically about our existence as something that extends beyond the oppressive and limiting confines of the system we live and die in. My work asks us to step into the parts of ourselves that capitalism, colonialism and patriarchy attempt to diminish from this world. I accept the figure of the monster as it has been theorized to disrupt systemic social modes of oppression entrenched in dominant societal culture. The transformational, mysterious and hybrid bodily archetypes of monsters reflect their inability to be controlled. I understand the structure of our everyday to be one withholding our society from cultivating supportive communities and relational understandings of the natural world.
My work encourages people to consider alternatives to the abysmal narratives of late-capitalism by bringing the figure of the monster into our contemporary context as a figure that cannot be limited by capitalist and settler-colonial constraints. I use the monster to rethink how we regard ourselves, each other and the world we inhabit. I am repurposing discarded clothing and jewelry and materials such as discarded wire and cardboard into art pieces. My body of work in this program is in relation to monsters, consumption culture, and storytelling as cultural critique, which I hope will inspire others to imagine more sustainable and just futures.