Dana Phillips

MA Studio Art

Color is the first and most important decision I make when beginning new work. Using deconstructed clothing I’m able to quickly cover space with color. I use discarded fabric and attempt to bring new life and meaning to it by finding and creating new shapes and adding dimension and texture to mostly flat surfaces. Each piece is developed with a sense of urgency as my work has developed through the limitations that my body had created for me during a long battle with Lyme disease. In addition to expressing my own physicality I am also interested in showing the unseen sides and hidden costs of living with a disease that many people can relate to. The supplement bottle is a form that is often used in my work, this came about after noticing several other Lyme patients sharing images online of all of their bottles and all of their pills cupped in their hands. It made me think about the massive amount of money and time that goes into maintaining life “after the bite”. I began saving all of my used bottles, with the intention of using them in my work someday. I did this for two and a half years. They took over my home and eventually made their way into my paintings. Finally I began collaging them, building them into sculptures, including a wearable sculpture in the form of a dress.. I built the dress and was able to incorporate this action into a performance. I Imagined the supplement bottle as a representation of hope, a promise that - one can be healthy again. But I also see it as a weight, both physically and financially. That weight was realized when I put the sculpture on and felt it literally. Through the use of bright colors I’m attempting to reclaim the drab state of the recycled materials and rewrite their discarded story with optimism. In the same way I am trying to reclaim the difficult hand I’ve been given. Much of my work tells this story, and through the use of strong lines and geometric shapes I attempt to give the work a sense of intensity. By filtering the often energy-sapping and frightening experience of chronic illness through an energetic and exuberant visual language, I try to add dimensionality to the narrative of illness, and to embody the paradoxical experience of feeling hopeful during times of great difficulty. Having maintained a high level of productivity through the challenges and isolation of illness meant that I was ironically somewhat prepared to weather the challenges presented by lockdowns related to the pandemic. That said, the past year has intensified both the isolation and the vulnerability of medically vulnerable populations, and like everyone else, the bedroom studio and the “zoom room” has become a dominant feature in my life. For me the end result was an impulse to recreate my bedroom in a more fantastical way—Perhaps a more desirable room for future isolation. I created an alternate reality zoom room and by using video and performance I enacted my isolated studio practice in a sort of never ending, living, collage.