I was initially attracted to the faux leather because of the juxtaposition of skin and PVC. I’m interested in the idea of micro plastics leaching into bodies. To make body surfaces out of plastic seemed to be in some ways an extreme way of exemplifying that. I had the initial idea to cover something in the fabric, perhaps a body part. I was thinking a lot of Janine Antoni’s Saddle. I decided instead to carve into it. I began carving, but it wasn’t turning out as I’d hoped. It was then that I realized that I needed to “skin” it. In peeling off the PVC and trying to return the fabric to what it really is (cotton) I couldn’t help but destroy it, physicalizing the interconnectedness of synthetics within our structures and bodies. This to me feels like the first moment of contact between myself and the material. As I work with it, further questions and concerns will undoubtedly emerge.
