Alexa Kari 5/13/22 Alexa Kari 5/13/22

Moved"

Textiles and woodblock printmaking, February-April 2022

Textile & woven woodblock print installation, February-April, 2022

Flaten Art Museum, Northfield, MN

Celebrating the traditional crafts of textiles and woodblock printmaking, this work is the result of repeating the same processes of carving, printing, ripping, and weaving over and over, until they open up a new experience beyond our everyday use of textiles. Challenging the audience to access a heightened sense of corporeality, I meditate upon Pennina Barnett’s words:

“to touch is always to be touched. And one never emerges intact from any encounter, for to be touched involves a capacity to be moved, ‘a power to be affected.’”

I welcome you to interact with this piece by touching and moving through it.

Watch the process of creating this piece!

Alexa Kari 9/27/21 Alexa Kari 9/27/21

"Dirty Laundry"

Installation, September 2021

How do we address harm in our communities? In this piece, I air out my community’s “dirty laundry,” through vinyl garments filled with pebbles and zines. The pebbles represent the weight that survivors carry around with them each day, while the zines offer up the teachings of transformative justice as a liberating force to help communities carry this weight together. The suits are made out of clear vinyl, symbolizing the necessity for transparent community care practices.

Viewers were encouraged to take a zine and a pebble from the installation; “when we educate ourselves and commit to accountability practices, we help each other carry the weight of our traumas and take responsibility for our collective healing.”

PDF of “so “support survivors:)” but don’t hold their abusers accountable…”

This installation was included in a group exhibition titled “Rituals of Healing,” on view in Groot Gallery from September 17th-October 15th, 2021. It included works by Kate HB, Alexa Sorensen, and Jorie Van Nest, with the following exhibition statement:

The three installations in this exhibition explore themes of transition, ritual, and reflection through suspended elements. Dirty Laundry visualizes a path towards collective healing from cycles of harm. Suspended Grief revolves around the question, “can we ever suspend our grief?” by materializing grief as a chandelier. Flow and Rise embodies the fluidity and temporality of water. Meditation on the ephemeral may affirm humans’ innate power to navigate difficult transitions with ease and grace. We invite you to use this space to reflect on your personal and communal rituals of healing.

@katehbart ~ @a.lexakari ~ @jorievn_art

Alexa Kari 5/7/21 Alexa Kari 5/7/21

"Community Care Closet"

Installation, May 2021

May 2021, Rolvaag Memorial Library at St. Olaf College

Clothing rack, hanging organizer, found fabric, vinyl playsuits, zines, art supplies

Community care is a practice that requires intentionality; we must “put it on” every day, just like we do clothes. In this installation, I aim to create a space for my community, to both learn from and teach each other. Using the concept of a closet to encourage exploration of the personal daily habits of community care, I designed and sewed two outfits that house a revolving community zine library and zine-making materials. I encouraged viewers to consider the questions: “What does my community need to know? What can I learn from my community?” as they read zines made by members of their community, and created their own zines using provided materials.

Through clothing made of clear vinyl, I comment on the necessity of transparency and accessibility in all community care practices. This work is situated in my college’s library, a place in which more knowledge is consumed than created. By creating their own zines, viewers work to tip that balance by contributing their own knowledge to the piece. Through validating the wisdom that exists within our community, we can begin to challenge the hierarchies that uphold Western academic knowledge production as absolute and universal.

Community care is a radical concept in a capitalist society, especially within a private college that rewards individualism. Through creating a space for my fellow St. Olaf community members to read the ideas of others, and share their own thoughts, I invite them to challenge these individualistic beliefs. Instead, we can put community care “on” and think about what we need to learn from our community, and what we have to share with it. Nobody takes better care of our community than us:)

This installation is currently on display until May 23rd, 2021. Additional documentation will be added as more people interact with it:)