Sophia ……Bassett

Punctured. Rust-stained. Faded floral upholstery. My hands search their insides. I find hidden systems of springs, ripe webbing, pulpy stuffing, and tacks, concealed beneath their decorative fabric. The chair presents a smooth exterior while containing a dense, bodily interior. The stitches don’t restore structural integrity; they become visible mending. 

To work with chair as material is to undo its final form, to break it into fragments and reveal the historied choices that first made it recognizable as furniture. We share thoughts, materials, skills, and wisdom, whether with words and actions or in couched negotiations between previous makers and me. Intergenerationality. 

Queer bodies move through and orient themselves in spaces, insincere kindness within Midwestern domestic interiors, that were never built with us in mind. Forcing constant adjustment, repositioning, perching, leaning, making do. 

By disassembling and reconfiguring parts, I mend the perception of chair from fixed categories of object or thing. Oscillating between.