Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Textiles
First Advisor
Mary Anne Friel
Second Advisor
Anna Gitelson-Kahn
Third Advisor
Brooks Hagan
Abstract
Vulnerable, young, sensitive to pain, immature, not tough. These are some of the words and phrases that come up when you do a quick search of the definition of tender. I have felt every single one of these emotions over the past two years in depths I have not before. I have worked tirelessly, back and forth and in between, to try and figure out what it means to become oneself, while slowly untethering myself from the devotion to my Southern family. Trying to find the visual language for this process has transformed me into a tender being with no hard edges. At times, I feel I am slipping between my own fingers, turning myself inside out trying to figure out what it all means.
Till Tender aims to capture all of the slippage, all of the hard bits, the time spent thinking and overthinking about memories and stories from my life. Which ones are the facades and which hold true to my own becoming? Which are being left behind, and which ones am I bringing with me into my own self? To answer these questions for myself, I often find myself working in a collage-based and process-driven practice. I am constantly taking photos when I travel back to Georgia that I compile with the large archive of photographs taken by my mother and grandmother. I use these photos as information, proof, and the blueprint for my collages. I paint, draw, and silkscreen onto different substrates. I manipulate paper and fabric by my own hand then scan them to continue the collage process further digitally. Once the collage has been digitally printed onto fabric I work back into it on the silkscreen table. Soon all of the slippage becomes a huge fabric collage that breathes my air and takes up the space I do not have the courage to take.
Recommended Citation
Ehl, Karli R., "Till Tender" (2025). Masters Theses. 1474.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1474
Creative Commons License
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