My fiber illustrations are influenced by a wood panel doll from my childhood and a return to play in my art practice. The doll was made of two panels with a risen female body on the back panel and a cut out of the body on the front panel. As a child, I spent countless hours placing pieces of fabric between the panels to design different outfits. Each fiber illustration is created by cutting holes in the base fabric and filling the hole with a piece of patterned fabric. The patterned fabric is top stitched into the illustration. I wanted to explore how important clothing and decorating ourselves is for developing identity. When I started this series I only filled in the character's clothing with the patterned fabric, making the character’s essence rely on the patterning and clothing. As I continued on and introduced objects into the series I filled them in the same way as the character's clothing. 

When I made this shift, the characters became objects in the space as well. As fiber art is a mechanical practice at its core, this series is an examination of how we build ourselves in and against our environment.