OH mother: for the love of the land
November 23 - december 21, 2024
In a social climate obsessed with modernity, and the recent politicization of climate change, this new body of textile work by Sarah Swift explores our humanity's growing dissociation from the natural world and our responsibility to combat the irreversible impact we are having upon our land. This show includes large scale installations and fiber sculptures, visually biomorphic and organic, using raw and recycled materials sourced locally from Rhode Island. Swift incorporates many ecological "problem" materials like plastic bags, drinking straws, fruit netting, plastic wrap, and fabric like bed sheets and clothing that has been heavily used and cannot be donated. Her goal is to challenge the perceptions of a consumer driven society, and inspire others to be more creative and resourceful with their everyday items.
Swift says “Reusing the name OH MOTHER, from a 2023 Hera Exhibition exploring the complexities of motherhood within the female experience, I have started to expand the meaning and responsibilities of the role “mother” to extend to the symbiotic relationship within all natural life. Confronted in my thirties with a biological clock and society's growing expectations for a desire to parent, I started to explore my greater purpose of how to fill the role of Mother, caretaker, guardian, in a different capacity than I had previously imagined. I also spent a lot of time considering our relationship to our “Mother Earth” wondering; "In our human entitlement, do we exploit her resources and energy so deeply, because we deem her female?”