Jodi Colella
Smaller Unidentified Women (Blue Fabric), 2019
Tintype with fiber
3.5 x 2.5 in
Copyright The Artist
Further images
From the artist: This body of work was made in response to the collections of Historic Northampton and the forces that have shaped women's identities since the 18th century. Struck...
From the artist: This body of work was made in response to the collections of Historic Northampton and the forces that have shaped women's identities since the 18th century. Struck by the poignant anonymity of the museum's daguerreotypes, Colella scoured flea markets for similar images which she then altered with raw and idiosyncratic stitches that call attention to the “unidentified woman” whose name is long forgotten.
This obsolete photographic process aligns with today's social media; both are means that allow people to alter their public identity through the curation of carefully chosen images. Colella stitches together past and present identity politics and inserts herself to provide an alternative chronology where expression replaces suppression and sewing equals activism.
There is a micro/macro statement that exists in Colella's art that mirrors the larger cultural forces that have contributed to the expansion of identities possible of women. In "Unidentified Woman," Colella fuses her personal experience with her ideology to create work that contributes to the progress of both art and feminism.
This obsolete photographic process aligns with today's social media; both are means that allow people to alter their public identity through the curation of carefully chosen images. Colella stitches together past and present identity politics and inserts herself to provide an alternative chronology where expression replaces suppression and sewing equals activism.
There is a micro/macro statement that exists in Colella's art that mirrors the larger cultural forces that have contributed to the expansion of identities possible of women. In "Unidentified Woman," Colella fuses her personal experience with her ideology to create work that contributes to the progress of both art and feminism.