Shayna Kiblin

Overflow
glass beads, thread, cotton underwear
13 x 12  in.

My artwork is planted in various mediums, and I am always seeking to learn new art form to express my ideas. I work primarily in photography, embroidery, and illustration, with themes typically centered around gender and sexuality. Playing with these concepts give me my voice as a woman, which I transform into my own vision, a vision that is free from the male gaze. In creating this vision, I seek to play with traditional ideas of femininity, which I do in color and lighting choice which typically lean toward being softer. There is something about the traditional ideas of femininity and what it means to be a woman which I feel the need to fight against in my art work.

In discovering myself as both an artist and a woman I found myself being drawn to mediums that deal more with making things and using my hands. These processes slow me down and force me to think through my decisions as I am creating. Producing work on the margins connects me with my work both physically and conceptually, as I am now materially involved with my part. Even with photography I find myself preferring analog over digital as it keeps me from over shooting scenes and forces me to think through my ideas every time I click the shutter. These processes lend themselves best to my subject matter as I like to feel completely connected to my art in both subject matter and practice. I have also been experimenting with combining different processes, such as embroidery and photography, which gives me more creative freedom to express my ideas in different methods of presentation. There is something inherently feminine about working with embroidery that I like to tie into my images surrounding subjects of womanhood.

© Shayna Kiblin