ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a text-based artist whose visual works promote speculative discourse about cultural norms and values as a contemplative exercise centered on racial disparity. I imagine a world in which all people strive to free each other from the constraints society imposes on us as well as those we use to define each other. I write in order to establish deeper and broader awarenesses about how social barriers and cultural differences serve to marginalize and divide people. Speculative discourse is couched in historical and political contexts designed to create a narrative around the current state of our freedoms. My speculative journey ties current and past works together through subjects about the underdog, family and daily experiences and through a variety of visual mediums such as morphed text, paint on canvas, collage on found objects. As an artistic exercise, I also dabble with javascript to produce visual associations for my poetry.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ann Wachter enjoys creating historical narratives and transforming them into visual art mediums. She concentrates her energies on bridging geographic and cultural divides by condensing timeframes in order to reveal insights about contemporary life. She is currently working on textual forms in collage formats to honor the works of banned book authors who represent LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. Snippets of news ads and articles, celebrity silhouettes on canvas, raster graphics and homespun poetry draw attention to racial disparities prevalent in contemporary society. Ann recently completed her MFA with The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2024). She’s studied with the University of Iowa Writer’s graduate program (2018), and is an avid participant in the University of Iowa Summer Writer’s Workshop. She completed her undergraduate degree in English with John Carroll University (1982). She is a devoted wife of thirty-six years and a proud mother of two young adults.
© Ann Wachter