Pressure Points

Artist Statement

DJ Diaz: 

My work explores the tension between light and darkness, certainty and uncertainty, and the push and pull that exists within all of us at different stages of our lives. Darkness in my images is indicative of what we do not understand about ourselves, the unanswered questions and internal unrest. The greys remind me of storm winds, our minds chaotically trying to tell us something we cannot yet put together. The white is the light, where the torch bearer illuminates the work. Within each piece, there is continual movement between shadow and illumination, a play that unfolds across every print and every layer of the process. At its core, my practice questions perception and material identity. The viewer is invited to question what exactly they are looking at. Is it a painting, or is it a photograph? Is it derived from the physical body, or is it derived from light?

By exploring the sensitivity between mediums, I work to subvert the traditions of each discipline, challenging the rigidness and expectations upon which those traditions were built. The goal is not to dissolve boundaries entirely, but to hybridize them, allowing each medium to destabilize the other. The act of making photographs is traditionally a mechanical process, requiring minimal effort from the artist’s hands. In response, I reintroduce the hand into the photographic process through collage, painting over negatives, solarization, and the implementation of cliché verre, a technique derived from printmaking practices that utilizes light when painted elements are reduced. Though the hand is not directly seen, the physical work of the body is brought into light. Exploring darkroom techniques and becoming accustomed to the sabattier effect’s unpredictability has empowered me to hybridize other disciplines within the work. I abstract and distort my subjects by collaging them, painting over their negatives, and solarizing the image. Each time I engage these processes, there are accidents and discoveries.

Jeremy Fett:

Illustration can tell compelling stories, whether it’s a still image or a moving image. Artwork (containing illustrations) has the potential to reveal the artist’s life. My focus in illustration is to tell compelling stories or a relatable scene for the audience, whether it’s a beautiful image or an image that visually explains my experiences. I tell these stories through digital illustration/animation or printmaking.

My Body of work for the Pressure Points exhibition all have something in common: a human body part paired with another object. These objects interact with the human parts in different or similar ways.

The Heart – Flower features a vine of thorns wrapped around the heart, with flowers blooming from it. I wanted to depict pain and beauty wrapped up in an object that represents life and love. Essentially, having a flower bloom its colors and beauty all while it’s restraining life and love.

The Liver – Grape is similar to Heart – Flower with a vine wrapped around the liver without the thorns, but a grape vine hanging below the liver. The liver, which has many functions of digestion and detoxifying, while the grapes, a fruit that can potential toxic to specific animals, is used as a sweet treat to humans (for which the liver goes through a two-phase detoxification process for grapes), and is commonly used to make wine, which the liver breaks down the alcoholic further. I believe grapes and wine have a unique hate/love relationship together.

Brain – Book is another pair that I believe has a strong relationship. To decipher a book and its text, you’ll probably need a brain to help understand the text. The goop between the book and the brain was my way to kind of my way to create the link between. Having ADHD growing up, I often found myself reading the text of the book without really contemplating what the words were saying. I would often find myself reading and daydreaming about something unrelated to what the text is saying.

Eye – Lotus has a bit of a more abstract meaning behind it. I had a lotus flower blooming above the eye to symbolize healing and rebirth, while the eye is looking back at the audience with tears and emotion. I believe having direct eye contact with tears is one of the strongest ways to express pain without words. Hence, it was a way for me to depict trauma with this illustration, with eyes witnessing trauma, and the lotus representing healing, purity, and rebirth and regeneration from the trauma.

Steve Grime:

Our governmental system, and the means of control have become malevolent towards the people they are supposed to serve. With its hypocrisy, pure idiocy, and utter corruption, our subsequent society is worthy of disdain and ridicule. This exhibition is a self-exposure, and a satirical condemnation of our absurd society, through artwork in conflict.

Artwork Descriptions

Documents 1, 2, and 3

An observational tryptic, these 2’ x 3’ oil on canvas paintings are based on snapshots taken from videos in the open drug markets of the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. A striking feature of these images is the existent bright colors of the environment in contrast with the human nightmares unfolding there every day. My goal was to create an aesthetic conflict between a veneer of beauty and this outrageous human tragedy, as a call out to our willful ignorance and indifference to this national catastrophe. I liken these works as street life scenes like ones seen from Caillebotte, or Monet, except our streetscapes are a dystopian hellscape.

The Battle

This 15.5 x 24” block print project attempts to emulate a classical style greyscale lithograph print, influenced by printmaker Héliodore Pisan. The subjects, a Giant Pacific Octopus and a Bald Eagle are entangled in the open ocean.

Mazar E Sharif

An 8 x 12 Drypoint print rendered from an image taken in a flood basin within the confines of the ISAF base in Mazar E Sharif. The beauty of the natural patterning of cracked mud is offset by the print color chosen, a color which I call “Scab.” Therein lies the conflict, beauty found during a time of war.

Sea Urchin Skeleton and Desert Soul Drypoint Plates

These are heavily detailed works given a large-scale projection through a Covid screen.

Failure

A mold which would not cure becomes a metaphor for something else, something deeply personal.

Planned Obsolescence

A multi-material sculpture, Planned Obsolescence introduces the Phantom Family, an exploration of readymade objects, aluminum and pewter casting, dental mold making, and 3D designed and printed elements. Overall, the sculpture is a family unit: all attached to a single motorcycle stand. The family is representative of an earlier time, the 80’s perhaps.

Shen Meyers:

My work explores the connection between mental health, self-identity, and their impact on our relationship with the world. My primary source of inspiration comes from my experience as a transgender man living in the United States during a time where the validity of my gender identity and expression is questioned.

Though I work with the same themes, no two of my projects employ the same materials. The process of exploring new techniques is a part of my research in finding the most effective material and medium to communicate the message effectively to my audience. I enjoy exploring new materials and techniques in my sculptures, often combine visceral imagery with other senses of the body to evoke emotion in my audience. Body horror is a recurring method that I use to visualize shame, fear, and longing in relation to mental health and the trans experience.

I give my audience a vessel to view and learn about my experiences with identity and mental health and encourage them to investigate themselves. I believe that mental health and identity go hand in hand, both in their impacts on a person, and the stigma that they receive. People often fear what they don’t understand, and this often becomes a vessel for harmful rhetoric and misinformation to spread. If we took more time to understand the experiences of others, there will be less room for hate.

Skylar Miller:

While the final product is often a goal, for me I find there is much importance in the art of making art. Though it is difficult to capture in a piece, my works seek to explore that beautiful and meditative process that leads to a finished work of art. This is because, for me, the process of creating is much more important than a finished work of art. It is a state of mind that I encourage others to try and maintain throughout their lifetime as a means of regulation, problem-solving, and simply enjoying themselves. The act of making is something that can be healing and can bring people together.

This bringing together of people is another important aspect to my work. Much of my work consists of fiber and textiles, the basis of which being fibers woven together to create a structure. Though the metaphor is fairly obvious, I love the idea of a community being a tapestry – each individual within is a yarn and together we create a beautiful tapestry of belonging. Knitting also brings its own sense of community with its rich history. Knitting is merely looping together a single strand of yarn, and yet it was used by women and now people everywhere to make statements. Women often knitted to support war efforts, but we’ve also seen knitting used as acts of protest. Knitting has frequently been a group activity, with women coming together to talk, knit, and help one another. The rich history of community is built into the very fibers I work with. It is this sense of community that I strive to encourage people to feel, or to seek out, when viewing my textile-based works.

Nafm:

To exist means to be alive, to live and breathe in the present moment. But what brought us here? Why do we act and think the way we do? What rules and patterns support the foundation for our contemporary perspectives? Using photography, performance, and installation in my artistic practices allows me to create an immersive experience to explore social practices. To challenge and subvert tradition. My work serves to refute stagnation, to encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion in the present by critically analyzing the patterns from the past to see the potential of the future.

Our very existence and perspective today were built upon this very complex web of social scripts and historical patterns. My practice as an interdisciplinary artist investigates the invisible structures that dictate our contemporary perspectives. Using photography and immerisve installations to challenge the stagnation of tradition. By critically analyzing how we have been conditioned to view human intimacy and the material history of our own processes, I seek to create immersive environments and experiences that encourage grounded reflection and a more equitable future.

My installation piece, Fugue Echoes, examines the historical materiality of the medium itself. Constructed from the discarded remnants of digital and darkroom processes, including film backing, test strips, and trimmings, this work serves as a material archive. These salvaged elements include photo paper mixed with various chemicals and remain light-reactive, creating ever-changing textures and colors that refuse to remain stagnant. The physical connectivity of the piece is intentional; every element is tethered to the next, forming infinite loops of movement that mirror the learned memories and systemic beliefs embedded in our history. By transforming these historical remnants into an immersive present, this work invites a critical analysis of the social practices that shape our contemporary perspectives.

Authintimacy is a participatory installation addressing the scripts of the social present. By exploring and subverting the voyeuristic gaze. Traditional representations of intimacy often romanticize objectification, but this works seeks to reclaim consensual affection as a site of reverence. Using a Mamiya medium format camera with heavy grain 3200 speed film, I intentionally placed the camera at a low angle to empower the couple physically and symbolically, shifting the power dynamic of the gaze from a place of consumption to respect and connection. This conceptual shift extends into the physical space through a series of modular screens constructed from salvaged wood and textiles. By incorporating a show rack, rugs, and blankets, the installation establishes a threshold that invites viewers to shed their outside layers and shed the set rules of public observation. This participatory environment requires a change in physical posture, asking the viewer to sit and engage with the low-hung triptych from a position of proximity rather than detached distance.

Together, these works represent a commitment to the idea of Interbeing, a concept taught by Thich Nhat Hanh to describe the interconnectedness of all life, that nothing exists independently. Whether through the physical enclosure of a cozy insulation or the chemical afterlife of a photographic print, my work argues that we are fundamentally interconnected with our past, our environment, and each other. By deconstructing the Traditions that no longer serve us, we can begin to see the potential for a future rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion.