Rachel Hays “Trousseau”
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In a feminist context, what identities and experiences does a woman carry with her? Bronx- based artist Rachel Hays explores this idea in her solo show, TROUSSEAU.
A traditional “Trousseau” is a collection of linens, clothing and wares that a bride would carry with her into marriage. The word “Trousseau,” comes from the latin word “torsus” -“to twist”, where we also derive distortion, contortion and torture.
As Rachel drew sketches of what would become this show, she was also immersed in planning her wedding. Through this process she relived many of the roles that she had throughout her life as a woman, partnered and single. “Wedding culture is an elaborate amplification of typical gender roles. Women are valued and defined by being loved and unloved, and we are asked to make ourselves and our experiences attractive. It is a kind of constant contortion.”
The resulting show is a combination of black shadows dripping from scrolls, a super-sized cross stitch through pegboard, sculptural knots, and single embroidered words that read as both commands and confessions. Rachel has hung a “collaboration”: a paragraph of felt text painstakingly cut and pinned onto her great-grandmother’s hand-sewn quilt.
Though she is not normally a textile artist, Rachel explains “My grandmother was a very talented seamstress, right before she passed away we looked over my wedding dress together and went through photos of her ancestors, who were Mormon pioneers. All of them sewed and quilted without considering it art. I wanted to honor their talent, and the feminine history of textile arts.”
TROUSSEAU is Rachel’s first solo exhibition in New York. Originally from Idaho and now in the Bronx by way of Brooklyn, Rachel is a comic artist and writer. She is interested in diy publishing, zines, handicrafts and interdisciplinary narrative work of all kinds.
Media
Schedule
from June 03, 2016 to June 26, 2016
Opening Reception on 2016-06-03 from 19:00 to 22:00