ARTIST STATEMENT
The world of craft is one historically fraught with rebellion against systems that seek to suppress and systematically devalue. Fibers and craft exist outside of conformist standards of ‘fine arts’ and have had to create their own places to exist and thrive. There should be no surprise that craft and queerness are intimately connected. The queer community has been through and continues to go through adversity, but we are resilient. We have created kinship, culture, and even our own languages.
My work uses these visual, cultural, and adorned languages queer people have created to survive and build connections. The community has, and will, build our own spaces and make our own safety in radical yet subtle ways. In combining fibers with queer historical vocabulary, I aim to make connections between queerness and craft, secrecy and radicality, safety and political unrest.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Toni Martinez is a queer artist from Apex, North Carolina. Their art surrounds their thoughts on the queer and historically gendered nature of art mediums, their concept of radical queer subtlety, and the political nature of having a body. They work in a mix of fibers and acrylic painting. Toni is currently working towards a BFA in studio art at Appalachian State University. Their work has been collected by two universities (Belk Library at Appalachian State University and the University of North Carolina- Wilmington’s printmaking collection), and has their work available in several retail stores across North Carolina.
© Toni Martinez