ARTIST STATEMENT
“Pretty Emotional” were the words a board president used to justify his dismissal of my traumatic experience. I was volunteering as a live, on-air radio deejay when a natural disaster struck the local community – the actual event was unfolding less than half a mile from my house – but I was abandoned and left to run the radio alone. I voiced my complaint, and while his words initially enraged me, I embraced them. Emotions aren’t negative qualities to dismiss- they are passion and should be celebrated.
I was inspired to embroider flowers: vibrant, bursting, loud, colorful. I stitched my fury into this piece, stabbing the fabric over and over and thinking about how this man was rejecting my trauma because any alternative would be uncomfortable for him. I told pretty much anyone who would listen about my experience. While outrage spread, no change or apology resulted. I wasn’t expecting it.
“Pretty emotional” has turned into a rallying cry in my heart. So often used to discredit women and their experiences, I am now empowered by it. Flowers don’t apologize for their existence; neither will I. I am compassionate and loud and colorful and infuriated by injustice. I would rather live a life full of beautiful emotion than one that looks away, that sweeps abuse and incompetence under the rug. I am pretty emotional and I am better for it.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Madeline Witek is an embroidery artist currently living outside of Chicago, IL. Her work explores the intersection of dismissive or insulting language with the quiet, thoughtful, and historically feminine practice of embroidery. In addition to stabbing fabric hundreds of times a day, she has been a curator and exhibition designer, a DJ at an Alaskan public radio station, an event organizer, carousel horse painter, a sushi chef, a house cleaner/organizer, and a grant writer. She holds a BA in English Literature from Ball State University and an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Manchester. Her work is featured in private collections around the world.
© Madeline Witek