Stephanie is an emerging artist with a multidisciplinary practice in textiles, photography and ceramics. She is interested in exploring the unique communication between these mediums.
A Self Portrait that was never a Self Portrait is a contemplative body of multi-media work including photography, ceramics and fibre. The images are an expression of my identity, part of which includes the lifelong journey of walking side by side with extreme depression and anxiety; something I have chosen to hold close to me, not often discussing publicly. Identity for me is evolutionary, dynamic and happening on both the micro and macro levels. Intimate and intentional photographic details of each woven piece encourage deeper examination beyond the surface, metaphoric for the time I have spent investing in my well-being as I walk alongside anxiety and depression. My freedom is accepting that mental health is a part of my identity but does not define it.
In my practice, combining elements of fibre, photography and ceramics are very important, each element allowing me to connect with different parts of myself and how I want to communicate with my greater community. A Self Portrait that was never a Self Portrait is an invitation into the more nuanced and intimate moments of identity and while not intending to be a self-portrait, it becomes so as my “self” intertwines with the work my hands produce, becoming captured moments of my identity.