Solo show at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg SC, curated by Dr. Lex Lancaster.

My first solo show out of grad school was a mix of new work, reworked work, and pieces from my time at WCU. The common thread was themes of labor and isolation. The show’s title is an effort to locate these themes within an economic lexicon.

Dependency theory describes practices of economic imperialism where resource-rich and economically poor states are pillaged to enrich wealthy “developed” states.

Dependency theory can be used to describe international and domestic relationships. Understanding the South as a perpetual colonial project, you can see how this resource pillaging is connected to every issue that plagues this region.

I focus so heavily on the South because places defined by extraction and isolation always have stories of resistance and resiliency. The tension between extraction and resistance, and isolation and resiliency shapes my practice.