We are a thread and we want to know the pattern

• Main Author: Goldstrom, Mollie Alisa
• Other Authors: Jung, Anita
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of Iowa 2013
• Subjects: Art Practice
• Online Access: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2505; https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4634&context=etd

I aim to depict alternate realities built by human error and misunderstanding as they apply to the natural world and natural systems. They are alternate realities informed by (mis)observation; both my own and that of others; individual figures both historical and fictitious that in some way embody the desire (and often failure) to shape and understand the world around them. These figures are in many ways stand-ins for myself, as well as my own artistic practice, and in telling their stories I seek to illuminate failure, futility, and imperfection, in their most poignant, beautiful, and absurd expression. Borrowing specific and obscure instances in human and natural history and themes from science, literature and myth, I strive to reproduce these mutable realities as narrative etchings and drawings, which combine visual clarity and readability with a high density of minute linear detail. Drawing is a form of translation and a form of labor, a means of synthesizing numerous, seemingly disparate topics. It is an attempt to bridge a gap, fill the space between perception and what is perceived. Through the labor of my hand, science and fiction, history and fabrication crowd onto a single page, the narrative and the encyclopedic exist side by side, become equal and indistinguishable. I seek to act as a translator and moderator between complexly layered histories and you, the viewer.