Artist’s Statement
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on an average day, women spent more than twice as much time preparing food and drink and doing interior cleaning, and over three times as much time doing laundry as men did. However, with contemporary standards, higher education, careers, and independence are all desirable traits found in American women. Through my body of work, I attempt to reflect on these double standards and raise these questions about women’s roles and representation in American society today.
I dissect and experiment with these gender stereotypes by adding characteristics of traditional woman’s work such as needle work, feminine patterns, and symbols in attempt to question these given roles to women specifically in American society. Using site specific materials such as dust and sweepings from my home with household objects, I create an ambiguous narrative within my work for people to to find a correlation between their own experiences with femininity and my own.
Inspired by the works of artists such as Nandipha Mntambo and Regina Jose Galindo, my pieces have varied in mediums of art such as sculpture, printmaking, installations, and performance pieces but all have common characteristics such as multiplicity and repetition. The use of repetition and multiplicity throughout my work speaks to these individual moments and experiences as a whole while also reflecting on the methodical and repetitive ways women conduct tasks in their own home such as daily chores and personal hygiene.
I believe these symbols and objects parallel and represent many elements of being female. Addressing these traditional gender stereotypes are speaking to my personal experiences as a woman and the greatness and hardships that parallel that identity.

Website:
Instagram: @onceinalumoon
E-mail: ncolby@murraystate.edu