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Hanging, 2004, burlap, twine, wood, grass

My work is made with natural materials, which I transform (sanding, cutting, carving, braiding, molding and layering) into bodies, both human and earthen. The hanging of the work addresses ideas of suspended animation: a body is frozen in its circumstance yet remains alive, kinetic. Together these ideas draw on cycles of life -- birth, death, decay and regeneration.

Transmission 2003 plaster, birch bark, shipping ro

I�m interested in social paradoxes � contrasts of extreme natural beauty and harsh poverty and despair. The work I make and the materials I employ are a dialogue with that duality. The materials used in the work � burlap and coir specifically - are symbolically connected to the Caribbean. The use of wood also underscores relationships between man and nature. The wood evokes skeletal structures, sinew, muscle and bone. Other materials such as coir - made from the trunk of the coconut tree and used for fertilizing in farming - also refer to the earth.

Rump 2003 plaster, coir, wood, twine, burlap