Interpretations 2025
Dates: October 17, 2025 -January 10, 2026
Location: Visions Museum of Textile Art; 2825 Dewey Rd #100, San Diego, CA
Blackity Black Blanket, Ladders is part of a larger installation composed of handwoven blankets made from over 500,000 zip ties. These sculptural blankets envelop every piece of furniture in a studio apartment—transforming a chaise lounge, dining table, and four chairs into tactile monuments of resilience, resistance, and protection. In this piece, ladders wrapped in dense layers of zip ties become symbols of aspiration burdened by the weight of bias and systemic friction.
This work explores implicit bias and the complexities of unproductive dialogues around sensitive “isms.” Implicit bias is a universal human experience—not a moral failure, but an invitation to self-awareness. Recognizing bias doesn’t make someone bad; the key lies in what we choose to do with that awareness. This body of work viscerally portrays the relentless impact of microaggressions. The ladders—tools meant for climbing—are draped in heavy, fur-like armor that both conceals and reveals the tension of attempting to rise while being held down by invisible assumptions.
The blankets themselves are not vessels of rest or softness; they are armor. A second skin. Bristling with a fur-like texture, they warn as much as they protect. Constructed from a material commonly associated with containment and restraint, the zip ties are reclaimed and reworked into something that defends, disrupts, and demands to be seen.
The installation reimagines what it’s like to live with microaggressions—so persistent that their sting becomes disturbingly familiar. In this space, even pain is woven into the fabric of daily life. The irony is that the discomfort, the tension, begins to feel like home. This work doesn’t offer easy comfort; instead, it challenges viewers to sit with that discomfort, to confront their own biases, and to join in the collective work of empathy, equity, and healing.