Untangled

15x39 Mixed Media
(acrylic, embroidery floss, smooth bristol, cardboard)
"Untangled"

Artist Statement:

This triptych explores the fragile architecture of romantic connection through the lens of the red string of fate—the belief that invisible threads bind destined lovers across time and space. Yet my work questions whether these connections are cosmic gifts or constructs we create through desire, memory, and the stories we tell ourselves about love.

The left panel functions as an icon, depicting two figures seated together in what appears to be an initial meeting or early courtship. Their bodies occupy the same blue-washed space yet maintain distance, capturing that tentative stage where connection feels possible but not yet certain. The center panel operates as a symbol—a couple embraced, their bodies merged, with a heart constructed from red thread stretched across their backs. This literalized symbol of connection speaks to how we project meaning onto relationships, creating tangible forms from intangible feelings. The right panel serves as an index, an abstract aftermath of physical and emotional intimacy. The fragmented bodies and scattered thread traces document what remains after connection—evidence of presence through absence.

The red embroidery thread physically links all three panels, entering and exiting each composition as it would in the red string myth. But unlike the myth's promise of unbreakable bonds, my thread is loose, tangled, imperfect—sometimes taut, sometimes slack. This material choice reflects my own experience with love: the belief in destined connection constantly undermined by the messy reality of human relationships. The thread both connects and constrains, beautiful and suffocating.

The vibrant blue backgrounds, rendered in acrylic paint with gestural drips and spatters, suggest both possibility and chaos—the emotional weather systems we navigate in relationships. Working with humble materials—paper, cardboard, acrylic marker—grounds the piece in accessibility and impermanence, acknowledging that these experiences, however monumental they feel, are ultimately fragile and temporary.

This piece matters because it visualizes the gap between romantic mythology and lived experience. The red string theory offers comfort: the idea that love is fated, that our connections have cosmic significance. But my work suggests something more complex—that we are both bound by and authors of our connections, that the threads between us are as much about hope and imagination as they are about destiny. In threading these panels together, I'm asking: what connects us, really? And when the thread loosens, what remains?

Process Images: