I Bruise Easy, 2022
paper, natural dyes, thread

I Bruise Easy is a physical exploration of shame and how it manifests on the body. Being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease has affected my approach to things that should and shouldn’t be spoken about and I realized these feelings are directly connected with the female experience, especially for me personally. Shame is so deeply rooted in us from such a young age and I wanted to explore my own shame for things that are completely normal and out of my control. I decided to take inherently ‘feminine’ crafts: sewing, weaving, dyeing, and textiles to highlight this idea of what is traditionally considered feminine. Each page is naturally dyed in a progression of the shades of a bruise healing. This represents the literal bruises I give myself and feel shame for as a result of disease, as well as representing the perceived fragility of the feminine.