romy owens

AN IMAGINED OTHERHOOD

Artist Statement from An Imagined Otherhood:

Shhh. Try to be still. Just for a moment. Quiet your mind of regret, worry, fear. Set aside the schedule, errands, cleaning. Whatever thoughts are racing through your mind, try to hush them. Allow color and calm to envelop you. Then you can go back. 

I daydreamed this sanctuary. This room exists in an alternate universe as a bedroom. But here, where we are, it as a communal haven, created out of knitted wool and introspection: a refuge, a respite, a security blanket on steroids.

An Imagined Otherhood is a mediator that strengthens relations between you and possibility. Whether that is your fantasy about the possibilities of the past of your determination about the possibilities of the future is not for me to say. My optimistic nature wants only for you to find comfort in your choices.

Transformation is at the heart of knitting, as line becomes surface and surface becomes form. As I seek to find satisfaction with my own form, I find that like knitting, I can unravel and reform indefinitely, as we live in a world of unlimited possibilities.

While you retreat, I hope you find solace in the knowledge that while we may each find loneness, we are not alone. Like these knit walls, we share interconnectedness. The choices we make define and refine our relationships.

An Imagined Otherhood was created for Art 365, a triennial exhibition of Oklahoma Visual Arts Coaliton, and curated by Raechell Smith. Additional funding for this project provided by the Mid-America Arts Alliance's Artistic Innovations Grant and Paseo FEAST.

These images detail how An Imagined Otherhood was installed at the Hardesty Art Center in Tulsa, JUN-AUG 2014.