Chelsey Becker, an interdisciplinary artist

Artist Statement

In my interdisciplinary/conceptual practice, I explore narrative theory through photography, artists’ books, sculpture, embroidery, writing, and film. Narrative theory examines not only literary studies but also ideas from fields such as rhetoric, (socio)linguistics, philosophical ethics, social psychology, folklore, and gender theory to explore how narratives work both as kinds of texts and as strategies for navigating experience. By creating within different mediums, I excavate multiple facets of a concept, considering it from different angles and points-of-view. The word that best describes my art approach: Rumination. The narratives and research I pursue in my artistic practice stem from reflections on my life in relation to those around me, exploring vulnerability and creative nonfiction within the context of the current political and social climate of 21st century.

In my practice, photography acts as my visual questioning, investigating, and documenting. With photography, I like to capture moments of narrative and idiosyncratic spaces. Due to my background as a painter, I setup the composition of my photos to reference narrative realism painters and regionalism, such as Carroll Cloar and Grant Wood.

Embroidering is a meditative aspect of my practice that relates to fragility, labor, and the passage of time experienced within narratives. Often, I receive questions and comments about the relationship between embroidery and “women’s work.” While the association is unavoidable, in my embroidery I depict distinctly “unfeminine” subjects, such as a car engine, or use un-precious materials, such as cardboard, to push back against the notion of gender constraints within craft.

Sculpture and installation act as the solidification of a thought, the climax in the story. The materiality of my sculptures relates directly to the narrative and language I am engaging in, as seen in my blue jean vehicle and carved wooded drivetrain works. Artists’ books and film are the culmination, the ending, of a concept/investigation. With artists’ books, I use the documentative photography, archive documents and objects, contemplative research notes and writing, and film stills to chronicle the narrative experience. The French artist Sophie Calle has greatly influenced this component of my practice. For the framing of my interdisciplinary approach, I look to varying artists, such as Wendy Red Star, Ed Ruscha, Vanessa German, and Liz Cohen.

Reading stories, according to psychological studies, improves the reader’s capacity for empathy and understanding. In my artistic practice, I want to give the viewers a visual narrative to navigate, interpret, and question. By investing in the stories and perspectives of others, we become more caring while also improving mental health.