Abstract
In this work, I am joining the conversation about the illusion of nature and natural. Through weaving, sewing, carving, blending, collaborating with the sun, collaborating with the material, collaborating with my ancestors (kind of on accident, thanks for reaching out ya’ll).
This blanket represents a brief snippet of my nature, what is natural to me and the beings I love in this world. A collaboration with my memory through object and photo, a collaboration with my environment.
In the large pulp print I am printing it from a piece of “nature” from my home that I have carried with me a long time, commenting on the felt change of the “nature” at home and solastalgia, that missing of a home that no longer exists, that is forever entwined with your place of belonging. A collaboration with immediate selected nature, with written matter of past nature, and especially, a collaboration with the trees.
The rag rugs are a way to think, with motion. They were made by my great great great grandma Sweetie, and my mom, now me, but all in very different contexts, the nature of change and time. By collaborating with my ancestors through this medium I am exploring the natural canister that is me
Redefining nature and natural for ourselves is important, because ridding of the rigid barriers present in the current definitions and encouraging the already mutating and working ways of language, will highlight the ever-present interconnection. Many people already know that the interconnection is there, and many people do not. They follow and enforce the very real in terms of impact, but fabricated barriers that degrade the environment, and uphold fucked up systems of power in this country
Please explore the natural canister that is you. Take note of all the parts, pieces of the mesh, the blanket, you touch, all the pieces that touch you. Bring awareness to all the ways you weave in and out of the systems, the ways you intake, bring awareness to listen, digest and create new visions, new definitions with a pile of pulp that came from your gut.
-love, and destruction of the old power structures always, anna peterson
Artist Statement
WHAT: I make prints, I dance, I repurpose many items, I observe, I document, I RECORD, I process, I write, I take photos, I collage, I sketch, I love beings, I work in my community, I listen and learn; never stop learning, I walk, I make food, I share, I listen to music, I play music, I sew, I grieve, I love.
WHY: I make prints because it makes art more affordable and holds a radical history of information/ idea dissemination, and activism. I dance because I need to and because it brings me back to the body, helps me think and discover by not thinking. I repurpose because objects have souls. I observe and record to share my experiences and because history should be written by the masses. I take photos because it is a magical form of witchcraft. I collage because it allows me to document multiples moments and rearrange/recontextualize meaning. I work in my community because I have to, because I would die without them and because I owe a lot to this universe. I make food as resistance to big agriculture and to nourish those I love. I walk to reset, discover and exist. I love because I have to.
My practice is walking, hearing stories making prints, collage
processing processing processing writing, dancing in the morning talking to the trees
drawing nonsense
trying to communicate
weaving materials, weaving thoughts patching, connecting
deep listening
always learning
constantly modifying the mode
My name is Anna and I am just trying to find my path as I go along. My mediums change, but I mainly work with some type of printmaking because I fell in love with the process and demand for use of my body. My work is how I process the world around me, and often how I communicate, with myself and others. I am currently trying to modify the language I use to more effectively connect and communicate. I am also currently trying to make works about healing, trying to redefine health and nature, and normalize mourning as part of the process, part of life.
