ARTIST STATEMENT

Through making the work in HERE OR THERE?, I explored the ideas and human experience of vulnerability and weakness through constructing with found building materials, painting, and drawing. The process of making and the art itself -- often awkward, unfinished looking, and childish -- acts as a constant reminder and exploration of who I am individually and who we are as humans, who God is, and where we are at in the process of what I call “deconstruction and reconstruction” – essentially, being made new by His Spirit.

– TATE HOLLINGSWORTH

“TENSION AND STABILITY”

After creating all of these, I realized that making these striped pieces gave me what I needed in a way – stability, comfort, hope, and a space to process. Their titles really reflected the thoughts I was having about the current circumstances and the conversation I was having with God. I feel like they exhibit this back and forth, reshaping of thinking, displaying the moments of hope and confidence I had as well as the doubt and confusion and anxiety I was experiencing.

The moments where we experience more than one emotion as humans, especially emotions that can be conflicting or “opposite” is something I’m intrigued by. The tension of holding both of those emotions in the same space, acknowledging them, facing them, and responding to them, is something I’ve found to be a common human experience that can be extremely vulnerable but leads to growth.

“TENSION AND AWKWARDNESS”

When I made the pieces titled Together or apart? and Are we here or there?, the racial tension, protests, and conversations about racism were peaking. For me, these pieces exhibit so many things – the feeling of being close to someone, yet so far away either emotionally or physically; the tension of conflicting emotions; wondering where we are at in the “almost but not yet” of the Kingdom; the tension and awkwardness of not knowing what to say or what the other person is going to say in a conversation. These pieces helped me to examine and process what was happening around and in me.

It seems to be that these are a few of the common feelings and experiences people have been encountering to some extent, especially during the pandemic.

“A CONVERSATION OUT OF ORDER”

The titles of my work are typically phrases, words, questions, or even punctuation from conversations I’m having with myself, God, or others. The titles of the pieces and the conversation doesn’t always come together in a sensible way – sometimes it comes together out of order. Since ultimately my work is exploring the ideas of human weakness and vulnerability, but does not give any human imagery, I feel as though the very titles being something a person would say or think gives the viewer the cue that these are about the human experience in a way.

“EITHER DECONSTRUCTED OR RECONSTRUCTED”

The concept of a foundation is something I was thinking about a lot during this time. I wanted to explore that more since I use a lot of home building materials and have been exploring the idea and experience of home in more recent years. 

Never using concrete before, I made a mold — a very cumbersome one — out of a cardboard box and duct tape and poured the concrete in. Then I submerged into the concrete a chipped off piece of the foundation from my own house that I found. I added hard and soft materials, stacking and coercing them together with glue, nails, and a lot of force. I debated a lot when to stop the construction, deciding to stop much sooner than I expected. This piece was confusing to me. Was it in deconstruction or reconstruction? I couldn’t tell; it looked exposed and very unfinished to me, but there was nothing else I could do to it.