“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
Much of my art emerges from a principle I call reciprocal linkage.
Formally speaking, reciprocal linkage refers to a number of frame like elements in which each element links through every other element.
Generally, all the frames in each reciprocally linked object are the same size and shape, and often made of the same material.
Reciprocal linkage embodies interconnectedness. These sculptures are a tangible representation of the structure and variability of relationships on a level that is both abstract, and palpable as a tactile and visual experience.
Some I leave open, in Umberto Eco’s sense of “open works,” meaning the viewer is invited to physically interact with the work and complete it themselves, however they wish.
Reciprocal linkage relates to neuroplasticity— the idea that what we see and experience in the world builds structures in our brains as directly as a sculptor might build structures in a studio, and that these neural structures are dynamic and ever-changing.
Reciprocal linkage suggests that what is inside and outside of us are intimately linked, and can be grasped as one. These works invite playful reflection on the balance between agency, interdependence and adaptability, moving from the personal to the social, and from isolation toward engagement.