Lia Gangemi
I am a collector of natural objects and used materials. Most if not all of these objects are found where I grew up on my family’s land in South Jersey. My grandparents farm is the place I collect from the most, and where I find the most accessible materials to work with . The importance of location associated with these findings are tied to my own identity, including my Sicilian heritage. I base my collecting on my intuition and connections with these objects. While collecting, I write down my thoughts and eventually turn them into poems, or just leave them as statements and singular words. I incorporate these poems and words into my collections by carefully embroidering them onto the natural objects. Finding different ways to modify these findings is based on the process in which they were found, whether it be from the words and drawings I made while I was collecting, or trying to visually explore my relationship with nature. The furniture components in the installation are also meant to transform from functioning and being understood as utilitarian, to posing questions about mankind’s future and how we as humans need to start shifting our focus on the importance of our relationship with nature. My work suggests what awaits the world once we leave it, and what happens to the things that are left behind. It provides the viewer with an alarming and confronting presence to objects that we are so used to day to day, but when seen as something that could be a possible future, it could spark a question and a conversation.
Bio
Lia Gangemi is an artist and sculptor living in New Jersey. Her work focuses on collections of natural objects. She is also a writer who incorporates her own words and poems into her sculptures using a variety of material and mark. Her work addresses the connections between human and nature. In requiring the viewer to use multiple senses, Gangemi creates a special environment in which the viewer can question and find their own connection with nature.