Decompose / Compose
2021
Kalamazoo, MI – Minneapolis, MN – São Paulo, Brazil
A tattoo and costume project influenced by adrienne maree brown’s book, Emergent Strategy, and her concept of fractals.
“A fractal is an object or quantity that displays self-similarity, which means it looks roughly the same at any scale. Small-scale solutions impact the whole system.” -Emergent Strategy, p 32
A process of translation from symbols of fractals on skin to patches and patterns on fabric.
Participants were asked to choose two symbols. One which depicted a tiny, unicellular organism and the other translated varying structures of growth from these organisms. Then there was collaboration on composition, placement, arrangement, and color for the tattoo design. During the exchange, Bel engaged in conversation about exchange, the symbol they chose, the moment, and fractals. The designs that emerged from this process became the basis for textile works, murals, and wheat pasting.
(In Portuguese)
Decompor / Compor investiga aspectos de nossas vidas que estão se desintegrando, mudando ou se transformando. A artista Isabel McLaughlin tatuou imagens de organismos em decomposição (bactérias, fungos, invertebrados) nos participantes. Durante a tatuagem, ela conversou com as pessoas sobre a decomposição em nível pessoal e social. Essas mesmas tatuagens e palavras de suas conversas são a base de murais públicos e privados, como este banheiro!
Isabel McLaughlin (eles / ela, Estados Unidos) usa escultura, instalação, gravuras, tatuagens e performance para explorar como podemos desenvolver relações autênticas e libertadoras entre consumidores, produtores e decompositores. Ela cria trabalhos em espaços muito privados (corpos) e espaços públicos (áreas urbanas) para navegar como os indivíduos se conectam às responsabilidades coletivas. Isabel tira proveito de suas experiências como uma pessoa branca, queer, de classe média do meio-oeste dos Estados Unidos.
Decompose/Compose investigates aspects of our lives that are disintegrating, changing, or transforming. Artist, Isabel McLaughlin, tattooed images of decomposing organisms (bacteria, fungi, invertebrates) onto participants. While tattooing, she talked with people about decomposition on a personal and social level. These same tattoo designs and words from her conversations are the basis of public and private murals, like this bathroom!
Isabel McLaughlin uses sculpture, installation, prints, tattoos, and performance to explore how we can develop authentic and liberatory relationships between consumers, producers, and decomposers. She creates work in very private spaces (bodies) and public spaces (urban areas) to navigate how individuals connect to collective responsibilities. Isabel draws from her experiences as a white, queer, middle-class person from the Midwest, United States.