Shana Martin
Untitled (-ison), 2020
retired climbing ropes
8 x 8 x 96 "
Climbers are sentimental about their gear. Gear is like a loyal friend that travels with you and keeps you safe. This creates an attachment that makes it difficult for one...
Climbers are sentimental about their gear. Gear is like a loyal friend that travels with you and keeps you safe. This creates an attachment that makes it difficult for one to simply discard equipment once it reaches retirement. My current body of work began out of the simple desire to create something from these rich materials. Here I employ retired climbing ropes to explore my personal curiosity and to express past experiences. Using macramé, installation, and climbing gear I am exploring the coalescing of femininity with masculinity as well as indoors with the outdoors. With these materials, I construct various forms and structures creating a space where femininity, ruggedness, memory, materiality, risk, and mindfulness coexist in what I refer to as rugged femininity. I think of my work as landscapes or fragments thereof. Thereby, I create an experience where time slows down, or maybe even pauses for a moment, in order to locate and preserve a place of wonder and sublimity.