ARTIST STATEMENT
Care work is art work. Born from a desire to convey the all-consuming nature of familiarly mundane gestures, my practice is about tensions that exist within gendered roles. Through the lens of caregiving, I align and explore the dualities between care work and art making and how they function in tandem.
I create ethnographic collections that center on the physicality of motherhood and the maternal relationship of rest within the isolated landscape of the domestic space. Through textiles, I use repetition, grids, and domestic artifacts to both honor and critique traditional roles played by women.
My performances before the camera document the physical traces left on my body as it becomes a tool for art making and care taking. These works often reference giving and receiving in order to present rest, community, and compassion as forms of resistance against the degradation of the village and the pursuit of flawlessness.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Maddie Casagranda is a recent MFA graduate and educator at the University of Houston. She is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily with analog & alternative photographic processes, performance art and fibers. Her current work explores representations of generational care and the physicality of motherhood. Her work has been exhibited across the country and internationally, including at The Blaffer Art Museum, Elgin St. Studios, PH21 Gallery, PRPG.mx, The Springville Museum of Art, The Southeast Center for Photography, and The Praxis Gallery.
© Maddie Casagranda