How Does Your Armor Grow?

Arashi-painted cotton textile, cotton batting, buckram, acrylic, gauze-wrapped wire, plaster
28” x 20” x 16
2022

"How Does Your Armor Grow?" is the garment women are taught to create for ourselves as we walk through the world. Few of us venture outside our safety zones (if they exist) without a laundry list of coping mechanisms. We carry keys or mace when walking alone, we create an exit strategy when we meet new men, or we laugh when we feel uncomfortable instead of risking confrontation with a stranger, or often with a loved one. This staple of our psychological wardrobe can feel like it protects us—but does it? And at what cost to ourselves, to the men we love, and to society?