Ashley Bradley

She/Her/Hers

I am a collaborator with my childhood self, utilizing the medium of weaving as a means for rendering my former and current being. My childhood drawings are the departure point for my work, translated into woven paintings that humorously combat notions of macho-man-modernism and subvert the extant hierarchy of craft versus high art. The slow, methodical process of weaving embeds my energy, contemplative thoughts, and oaths to myself in the very structure and form as I navigate my lived experiences with mental health conditions. My juvenescent drawings are repositioned as self-proclaimed vows and grandiose expressions of my childhood hand and adult psyche. The loom serves as a device for the creation of forms and experiences that are both unique and ubiquitous. Repetitive motifs are amplified through the tedious weaving process, so as to drill these ideas and beliefs into my head and to challenge the authenticity of their messages.