Statement
There is little separation between the activity I carry out in my private studio space and the public performances that I enact. In both spaces, roles of archivist, manual laborer, archeologist and spiritual medium have recently been employed. I am interested in the human desire to satisfy, to fulfill, to complete and how these objectives influence daily decisions of what one might choose to consume. This is illustrated through installations constructed with sculptural and textile elements that are activated by performative “work sessions.” Through a public action, my body and time are presented to the viewer. Considerations of past and present object ontologies frame the work and aim to make tangible the distance between what is sought after and what is found. As the inhabitants of bodies, we are all too familiar with having to choose whether to present the self as functional or aesthetic tools each day. I ask: how does one attain enough distance from the self to interrupt the body’s desire?
Bio
Christalena Hughmanick is an artist working in textiles, sculpture, and performance. She received her Masters In Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012 where she is currently a Lecturer in the Fiber and Material Studies Department. Recent exhibition sites include Fernwey, Document, Triumph and Western Exhibitions in Chicago, SOIL Gallery in Seattle and a solo exhibition at PANEL Contemporary in Budapest, Hungary is scheduled for May, 2019. She is currently on a Fulbright Fellowship for the 2018-19 academic year as a resident Lecturer & Researcher at the Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem in Budapest, Hungary. In addition, she received an Individual Assistance Grant from the US State Department to complete a public quilt making project in Hungary during the Summer of 2019.