Broom Studies: 2019-2020

Broom Studies: 2019- 2020, 2024

Six or seven years ago, I happened on my co-worker in a peculiar act. She was balancing a broom with an absolute enticing magic and as she walked away from the scene she quipped she was witching the studio. I became enamored by this simple physical property and found myself often balancing a broom after sweeping. The genesis of this compulsive group of studies stems first and foremost from my delight in this physical property.

As for why else I choose the humble broom…I have been thinking about domesticity – what it means and looks like – for over two years while working on New Domesticity. The broom is one of the most basic and ubiquitous tools of domesticity and labor. What it does and how to interact with it are generally well understood and it is strongly associated with certain contexts, gestures, individuals, jobs, and outcomes. It is typically tucked away in a corner of the home and brought out to herd rubbish, usually by women, for the reward of a clean home. These studies explore what it means to remove the broom from the typical and to interact with it in non-traditional ways. Is sweeping labor if there are no resulting debris piles, if a dirty floor remains? Through these performances, I am actively queering labor, our gendered notions of domesticity, and the futility and humor within these mundane systems.

The work began in my studio at CalArts and progressed outwards into exploring California (both outside of CalArts but also in the Bay Area where I was living, and occasionally in Milwaukee. Most recently Broom Studies continued as I made site specific work at The Villa Terrace Art Museum over the course of 6 months. I filmed in the winter, spring and summer interacting with the house and grounds.There are currently 131 studies.