In The Company of Comfort

For ‘Somewhere Felt’ – the Tufts MFA Thesis exhibition held at the Space Other Gallery in Boston in 2008 – my contribution (entitled ‘In The Company of Comfort’) set out to create an object that brought and continues to bring comfort or pleasure to each of the artists in the show, my colleagues and friends. Producing each custom object involved several discussions, shopping trips, fittings as well as all the time spent with one another over previous years. All aspects of this process influenced the construction of a comfort object that was just right for each individual. With this work I am interested in communicating desires that are not fully expressed through words or forms. Each object requires the human relationship for completion: it must be held, snuggled with, doted upon, delved into. The adoption of each object occurred over the duration of the exhibition, whereby owners were allowed visitation rights but guardianship remained with me until the close of the show. The process, and each finished object, is a collaborative investigation into the translation of the emotional into the physical.