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Who Belongs? This piece is based on a quote that I had heard at a protest held by students at the University of Utah in defense of DEl. We gathered because of the unfair and unjust closing of multiple of the University of Utah's DEI centers on campus in relation to an anti-DEl law that was put into place just before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Some centers that were closed were the LGBT Resource Center, the Women's Resource Center, and the Center for Equity and Student Belonging. The quote was from one of the student speakers who told our crowd; "The funny thing about insects is that they are often more scared of you than you are of them", while she was talking about the lawmakers who created HB 261 that gave the U an excuse to close these critical centers of belonging. Taking that to heart, and quite literally, I created this piece in response. When you preach belonging on campus and then turn around and close centers that explicitly exist to create safe spaces for minorities and people who have been othered for generations, people notice.
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George Floyd I collected newspaper articles for a few months to make this piece. Racism has existed LONG before George Floyd. In this senseless act of police violence, Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd pleaded for his life. The other officers stood around and did nothing. This sparked protests around the world for justice and equality. This piece is not only a tribute to George Floyd, but it's also about what has happened since and what continues to happen- police violence, reform, racism, and black lives that have been brutally taken by police.
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Hot Wheels Named after the toy a mall Santa suggested when he heard a 5-year old boy ask for a Barbie, "Hot Wheels" is based on the shame boys with feminine interests feel when they are socialized to feel as such. A baby blue coffin is the final resting place for a collection of disfigured dolls, a mournful symbol of burying one's feelings to conform.
