about moo-d
MOO-D: A Rural Urban Adventure is a project that analyzes my relationship to the rural and the urban, with a focus on queering the perceived binaries between them and aims to recognize the rural as a place of contemporary art and culture. Using videos, photographs, and memorabilia - this installation showcases a herd of life-sized Pennsylvania-shaped Holstein Cow soft-sculptures existing in the urban landscape, creating a dialogue around perceived binaries of what does or does not “belong.”
My childhood house has a view of a cow milking farm where cows are kept inside and is also near farms where cows are allowed to graze. Although both groups of cows have the physical and biological ability to be milked or to graze, their location and circumstance only allow them one perspective. Growing up in Central PA, I observed and absorbed stigmas surrounding the idea of the city. I’m now living in Philadelphia, PA where there is generalization and cultural assumptions when considering the rural. Using the dairy cow as a symbol of hidden violence and text as a comical, yet relevant, entry point for dialogue, the work in this installation captures myself leading life-sized Pennsylvania-shaped Holstein cow soft sculptures though the city of Philadelphia; a metaphor for my continued journey in deconstructing the rural/urban binary. This exhibition encourages personal reflection, and supports conversations dedicated to recognizing and deconstructing frameworks of polarization and constructed rural/urban binaries to envision and build a more inclusive future.
My childhood house has a view of a cow milking farm where cows are kept inside and is also near farms where cows are allowed to graze. Although both groups of cows have the physical and biological ability to be milked or to graze, their location and circumstance only allow them one perspective. Growing up in Central PA, I observed and absorbed stigmas surrounding the idea of the city. I’m now living in Philadelphia, PA where there is generalization and cultural assumptions when considering the rural. Using the dairy cow as a symbol of hidden violence and text as a comical, yet relevant, entry point for dialogue, the work in this installation captures myself leading life-sized Pennsylvania-shaped Holstein cow soft sculptures though the city of Philadelphia; a metaphor for my continued journey in deconstructing the rural/urban binary. This exhibition encourages personal reflection, and supports conversations dedicated to recognizing and deconstructing frameworks of polarization and constructed rural/urban binaries to envision and build a more inclusive future.
Photo Album one
Project Development
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During my time at the Studios at MASS MoCA in 2021, I was able to think critically about the next steps in my studio and how I wanted to talk about my experiences in a way that I might be able to start a real and much needed conversation with others. Being a very rural/urban city, North Adams, Massachusetts was the ideal place to stoke the fire for this project. Being there gave me the time to work through ideas, and the unique space to reflect and research. I was also welcomed into such an amazing community of artists who were so willing to accept me and teach me. My work is rooted in learning and sharing, and my goals with this project are simply that - to learn and to share.
