Joelle Montez
Artist info
Multifarious Condition
Ceramic, Terra Sigillata, Gouache, Shoe Polish, Wax, Graphite
~19" x 14" x 9"
$3500
Being multiracial feels ambiguous, conflicting, and harmonious all at once. The making of this piece was an act of introspection, with the figures in this sculpture representing that tenuous balance we must find within ourselves as mixed-race people.
During the time that I made this sculpture, I was pursuing a degree in ecology and spent a formative winter working at a field station in Mexico studying migratory birds. Waking at dawn to paddle through mangroves to catch the dawn chorus, I was immersed in that ecosystem and my mind had time to contemplate my heritage and connection to this place. Birds live in such a way that their very existence questions the borders we put on maps, and the arbitrary fragmentation of land that is in reality a continuous ecosystem flowing from one bioregion into another. It can feel similar in a body that is often seen outwardly as disparate parts rather than a whole, while internally attempting to integrate a multiplicity of selves into a single identity.
The yellow-crowned night heron holds special significance to me. I watched them daily during my stay in Mexico, and they exist in my mind as sentinels of my ancestors. Belonging to multiple places at once, the heron is at home in the air, the water, and on the earth. They serve to remind me that all the pieces that make up my Self are versatile and adaptive; not conflicting.
- Joelle Montez
During the time that I made this sculpture, I was pursuing a degree in ecology and spent a formative winter working at a field station in Mexico studying migratory birds. Waking at dawn to paddle through mangroves to catch the dawn chorus, I was immersed in that ecosystem and my mind had time to contemplate my heritage and connection to this place. Birds live in such a way that their very existence questions the borders we put on maps, and the arbitrary fragmentation of land that is in reality a continuous ecosystem flowing from one bioregion into another. It can feel similar in a body that is often seen outwardly as disparate parts rather than a whole, while internally attempting to integrate a multiplicity of selves into a single identity.
The yellow-crowned night heron holds special significance to me. I watched them daily during my stay in Mexico, and they exist in my mind as sentinels of my ancestors. Belonging to multiple places at once, the heron is at home in the air, the water, and on the earth. They serve to remind me that all the pieces that make up my Self are versatile and adaptive; not conflicting.
- Joelle Montez
