Mysticopoetics
MFA Thesis Exhibition
University of New Mexico
Santa Fe Art Institute, June 2023
For my MFA Thesis exhibition Mysticopoetics, I underwent a process of Healing Intergenerational Grief through working with ancestral ephemera. Committed to anti-coloniality as a eco-dance scholar and educator; I collaged this installation based on the fundamental question of who am I?
Life as Altar, 2023, Mixed Media
I view my body as being composed of me and non-me elements. It is made up of the river water, plants, and minerals from the high alpine desert where I live. It is made up of the cellular symbiosis of my ancestors, the psychosomatic imprints of my culture, and the phytoestrogens I breathe in each day.
The materials used in this mixed media installation Life as Altar include wood, cement, a flax fiber cocoon, the loose herbs of elderberry, mullein, st. john’s wort, and nettle, Colorado River water, my menses, appropriated moving images of blood, cells, and metamorphosis, pieces of petrified wood, rock and crystal from my home landscape, and an orchid.
The orchid is a symbol of sensitivity. The trait of sensitivity is one that has defined my life as an Autistic woman. Professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at University of California, San Fransisco Tom Boyce refers to sensitive people as Orchids…exquisitely sensitive to their environment, making them especially vulnerable under conditions of adversity, but unusually vital, creative, and successful within supportive, nurturing environments.
Dark Matter, 2023, Digital Collage
In this piece Dark Matter, I de-constructed and re-constructed digital photographs I took of my grandparents land in upstate New York. My paternal grandfather was a first generation immigrant from Italy and my grandmother a first generation immigrant from Bohemia. Through them and my other elders, I witnessed cultural and relational entanglement. The sometimes distorted ways in which the unseen tries to make itself seen. I also witnessed how assimilation and political fear can transmigrate in the body intergeneration-ally.
Mom’s Dress, 2023, Video
Grief, 2023, Collage
The theme of sensitivity is carried further into this piece Grief, where I collaged with ancestral ephemera; including my wedding dress, my mother’s middle school continuation dress, underwear and flax fiber to create an abstract body that indicates (for me) a feeling of contortion. The use of flax fiber throughout Mysticopoetics is a bow to my grandmother Millie Dobrecky.
My paternal grandmother, Millie Dobrecky, immigrated with her family to upstate New York from Bohemia as a child between World War I and World War II. Many Czechs were skilled in craft, education, and business, so they assimilated quickly and quietly. Bringing with them the cultural values of industry, familial love, and naturalism. My grandmother was an herbalist, painter, and weaver who loved the wild and loved me. She remains one of my great creative influences. as the spinning of flax into linen is a defining Czech folk art.
Committee Members
Amanda Hamp
Szu-Han Ho
Dominika Laster
Mary Mattingly
Carol Padberg