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Kaitlin Trataris

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Through the use of mark-making via graphite drawings and sewing, my work contrasts the assumed stability of domestic spaces with the potential fluidity of the people that inhabit these spaces. The home and its objects contain a societal promise of safety and predictability that works in conjunction with social norms that propagate the domestic ideal. The fabric objects and walls are flexible and move in response to the body, bringing attention to the constant negotiation of space by people and their objects. The architectural forms of homes and the geometric forms of furniture follow an aesthetic and functional order. The rigid shapes that inhabit domestic spaces are replicated in the patterns designed to create clothes, reflecting the need to control and make logical the unpredictable and organic human body by enclosing it in structure. The sewn and graphite drawings are created from memory and further abstract these domestic frameworks through their spontaneous and inaccurate representation. These drawn lines act as containers for both memory and form, defamiliarizing domestic objects through personal specificity and informal depiction. My work renders the domestic space vulnerable and malleable in material and contour, giving structural objects and forms organic and volatile movements that undermine their assumed security and make the home an activated space.