Heart and Hole
Lost-wax casting, a poetic process of loss and renewal, inspires a unique materiality of healing and remembrance in deep time. I use the foundry to melt down and recast found ephemera into durational artifacts of empowered gathering and fluid fecundity. I practice queered techniques of metalcraft to repair and fortify that which is at risk of erasure and decay. As an act of care, I polish the peaks of the cast aluminum to highlight the metal’s inherent edgelessness and liquidity, and to achieve a reflective resonance. I relate these practices to experiences of queer abandonment and the subsequently-earned intuition to seek love, community, and transformation in ruin.