Jodi Colella
First Skin, 2018
Polyester organza, thread, wooden hanger 59x24x8 in., or 79x24x8 in. w/hanger
Self portrait representing my ritual of process and craft in the devotion of art, history, identity, time and place.
Jodi Colella
Olive, Mary Jane, 2020
Garden Statue, paint, acrylic glaze, wool, cotton, polyester 36x27x27 in.
One of the Mary Jane sculpture series, inspired by the cultural pressures felt by many, but particularly women, whose stifling restrictions permeate into all the physical spaces of their world.
Jodi Colella
Call Me Rose, 2019
Assorted clothing, red dye, wire, threads, red embroidery thread 30x29x23 in.
My most recent headware sculpture created for the Danforth Museum of Art for their exhibition 'Dressed'. It is an elaborate composition created from gendered clothing addressing materials, imagery, iconography and memory and questioning how we cover, adorn, and envelop the body in the guise we present to the outside world.
Jodi Colella
Unidentified Women, 2016
Found tintypes, assorted threads and fabrics, wool felt, earth magnet Variable, approximately 2x3
Struck by the poignant anonymity of the Historic Northampton's daguerreotypes I was inspired to scour flea markets for similar images which I then altered with raw and idiosyncratic stitches that call attention to the Unidentified Woman whose name is long forgotten. This Obsolete photographic process aligns with today's social media, both as a means that allow people to alter their public identity through the curation of carefully chosen images. I stitch together past and present identity politics and insert myself to provide an alternative chronology where expression replaces suppression and sewing equals activism.
Jodi Colella
Ghost Stories, Sheep’s Clothing, 2019
Found tintype original, enlarged ink jet transfer onto aluminum, dyed artificial flowers, silk thread, wood frame 22.5x14.75 in.
In Ghost Stories, I've developed a new technique to expand my small intimate tintype originals both in size and expression. They are scanned, enlarged, cropped, transferred onto large sheets of aluminum, and then embroidered to create powerful confrontive images. By investigating for hidden meanings that lay just below the surface, I focus on the strangeness of what is assumed to be known - but isn't. the new images challenge perceptions as they capture that place where anxiety and beauty can co-mingle. In the way, an obsolete 19th century photo process is transformed into an object of contemporary relevance that recontextualizes history and begs the questions: "What is really going on here? Is what we see really what it is?"
Jodi Colella
Ghost Stories, Uprooted, 2019
Found tintype original, enlarged ink jet transfer onto aluminum, dyed artificial flowers, silk thread, wood frame 20.75x16.25 in.
In Ghost Stories, I've developed a new technique to expand my small intimate tintype originals both in size and expression. They are scanned, enlarged, cropped, transferred onto large sheets of aluminum, and then embroidered to create powerful confrontive images. By investigating for hidden meanings that lay just below the surface, I focus on the strangeness of what is assumed to be known - but isn't. the new images challenge perceptions as they capture that place where anxiety and beauty can co-mingle. In the way, an obsolete 19th century photo process is transformed into an object of contemporary relevance that recontextualizes history and begs the questions: "What is really going on here? Is what we see really what it is?"
Jodi Colella
Shelter in Place No. 1-4, 2020
Found snapshots, epson ink jet print, lace, fibers, ultraboard mount, aluminum frame 24x24 in.
Women's reign confined to domestic spaces in 20th century patriarchal society.
Jodi Colella
Acquiescence in Yellow, 2020
Garden Statue, paint, acrylic glaze, wool, cotton, linen, polyester 31x28x22 in.
Part of the Mary Jane collection, sculptures inspired by the cultural pressures felt by many, but particularly women, whose stifling restrictions permeate into all the physical spaces of their world.
Jodi Colella
Once Was, detail, 2019
Donated clothing, black velvet, red cotton yarn, earth magnets 12 x 5 feet
Once Was is a memorial for all those lost to the opioid epidemic in the prime of their lives. This 12-foot, 2-sided tower is covered with 3,600 poppies that are stitched and then sewn onto a plush black velvet foundation. The poppies are made from repurposed clothing donated by those I spent time with talking about this project and the opioid crisis. The resulting array of patterns, colors, styles, and materials represents the lives of all people of every age, gender, relation, ethnicity, etc. The empty centers are outlined in bright red to embody the victims, and the void reveals black velvet beneath - a funerary symbol - adding gravity and symbolizing loss.
Jodi Colella
Once Was, 2019
Donated clothing, black velvet, red cotton yarn, earth magnets 12 x 5 feet
Once Was is a memorial for all those lost to the opioid epidemic in the prime of their lives. This 12-foot, 2-sided tower is covered with 3,600 poppies that are stitched and then sewn onto a plush black velvet foundation. The poppies are made from repurposed clothing donated by those I spent time with talking about this project and the opioid crisis. The resulting array of patterns, colors, styles, and materials represents the lives of all people of every age, gender, relation, ethnicity, etc. The empty centers are outlined in bright red to embody the victims, and the void reveals black velvet beneath - a funerary symbol - adding gravity and symbolizing loss.
