You Were Always Home

Show Dates: June 2nd - July 1st, 2023

Opening Reception: June 2nd, 5pm - 8pm

Join us for our June gallery show, ‘You Were Always Home,’ featuring work by local artist, Kristen Morley.

Artist Statement:

Unearthing our most intimate relationship, ‘You Were Always Home’ is a series which examines the complexity of existing in a marginalized body. Using saturated colors to create vivid contrasts, these works seek to reframe our relationship to our physical form as an extension of our connection to the natural world. In developing these works, I engaged in a conversation with my inner-most critic, the one whose voice echoes the messaging of a cultural upbringing which rejected the beauty of queer and non-conforming people of color. As a youth in the borderlands of eastern Washington, my experiences as a mixed-race individual were often defined by sense of other, and my work aims to confront the dysmorphic reality of existing in a world without representation. This series reflects deeply on my experiences coping with body dysmorphic disorder, with these pieces serving as the product of a therapeutic practice to heal warped perceptions of self. My process has involved capturing nude self-portraits throughout quarantine, documenting phases spanning exercise and injury, feasting and fasting, depression and mania. Turning my physical form into my creative muse, I reference these photos as source material for new compositions and create designs that allow me to see my own form as part of a larger cosmic story. Where do I end? Where do you begin? I aim to remind myself and the viewer of the beauty inherent to all bodies, and the ways in which our connection to our physical selves is merely an extension of our relationship to the natural world.