Please join us at the Resilient Threads Reception
Thursday, January 30, 2025
5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the
Art Lofts Gallery
5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the
Art Lofts Gallery
FREE and open to the public. The exhibition opens on Monday, January 27. Closing Friday, January 31, 2025.
Artist Statement
Resilient Threads is an interactive textile soft sculpture installation with a corresponding art film. Twelve-foot panels of muslin and tulle suspend from the ceiling grid, forming a maze-like environment for visitors to explore. These translucent, layered fabrics shift gently with movement, evoking the transient and fleeting nature of the moments they represent.
The panels are printed with large-scale images that capture unmade beds and disheveled sheets, inviting reflection on the hidden labor embedded in daily life. Implied questions such as "Did you make your bed this morning? Did you make the bed for someone else?" challenge the viewer to consider their relationship with domestic labor.
At the back of the gallery, the accompanying film plays on an intentionally small screen, underscoring domestic work's often unseen and undervalued nature. The art film was created in collaboration with Gavin McLean, a current student in the College of Letters & Science, Communication Department, Film Studies program here at the University of Wisconsin. The film references the 1975 transcendental classic Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. The central character in Resilient Threads completes a series of domestic labor tasks, daydreaming about freedom while trapped as a domesticated inhabitant. The repetitive monotony of the tasks emphasizes the never-ending slog of domestic labor.
The installation and film create an immersive experience, subtly highlighting the quiet resilience required to face each new day.
MFA Graduate Committee
Associate Professor Sarah FitzSimons, Chair
Professor Dr. Faisal Abdu’ Allah
Professor Fred Stonehouse
Assistant Professor Michael Velliquette
Professor Dr. Faisal Abdu’ Allah
Professor Fred Stonehouse
Assistant Professor Michael Velliquette
Credits
Gavin McLean, Steven McLean, Max McLean, and the team at Wild Blue Technologies.
