Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition
UW-Madison
UW-Madison
Exhibition Statement
Oracle, a disability-centered exhibition, holds wisdom of the ill body in foam, glass, and video. The works range from inspection of disabled bodies, bodies under surveillance and dissection, to the figurative sculpture that holds and honors disabled people as oracles themselves. A Disabled Oracle is a person regarded as an infallible authority or guide on disability, including disabled wisdom from the past, present, and future. This is coined by Alice Wong, Jen White-Johnson, and Aimi Hamraie. The space acknowledges the harm of medicalized trauma and the historical understanding of disability as only a problem, but pushes toward a new revelation of disabled knowledge, ancestry, power, and divination. This new crip wisdom is seen in the figurative sculpture in foam titled Who’s Ideal (Whose Ideal)? (2026). Crip Wisdom is the embodied knowledge of disability community and disabled people, coined by Sins Invalid. Foam becomes a dominate material throughout the exhibition because of the deep connection I have to it. I view it as a contemporary material that is distinctly disabled and chronically ill as it often covers surfaces and cradles my body: in bed, in shoes, on chairs, nearly everything I utilize daily. Throughout this exhibition’s creation, I ruminated on the words of the disabled ancestor that recently passed, Alice Wong, who said: “My body you call broken, I call an oracle.”
Click to see each of the four installations
Within/Without, 2026
Who's Ideal (Whose Ideal)?, 2026
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What If It Were Me?, 2026
Breathing Tube No. 2, 2025
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Photography by Nika McKagen
Videography by Blaze Davis
Acknowledgements
I have so many thanks to give for this show. It would have never been possible to see this vision possible without the support and help of my committee:
Christina A. West (chair), Dr. Faisal Abdu’Allah, Dr. Jill H. Casid, Meg Mitchell, and Dr. Sami Schalk
Shout out to Heather Schatz for always being there for me as well!
The support of the ceramics crew is always an amazing group to lean on:
Gerit Grimm, Tati Giron, Able Broyles, Drew Thelke, Molly Green, Kenni Zipf, and Joshuah Holbrook
Graduate/undergraduate friends who have stuck by my side and helped physically put this show together:
Skye Xollo, Madeleine Stoffel, Kate Goodvin, Dhante Bunbury, Corey Wellik, Anne E. Stoner, Tina Rea Rose Meister, Josie Meister, Kalil Mitchell, Swan Ferarro, and Vivian Ye
Special shoutouts to the amazing UW Glass program and crew:
Matthew Everett, Carolyn Spears, Kagen Dunn, and Helen Lee
With all my love, thank you to Mom, Dad, Claire and Mason.
Christina A. West (chair), Dr. Faisal Abdu’Allah, Dr. Jill H. Casid, Meg Mitchell, and Dr. Sami Schalk
Shout out to Heather Schatz for always being there for me as well!
The support of the ceramics crew is always an amazing group to lean on:
Gerit Grimm, Tati Giron, Able Broyles, Drew Thelke, Molly Green, Kenni Zipf, and Joshuah Holbrook
Graduate/undergraduate friends who have stuck by my side and helped physically put this show together:
Skye Xollo, Madeleine Stoffel, Kate Goodvin, Dhante Bunbury, Corey Wellik, Anne E. Stoner, Tina Rea Rose Meister, Josie Meister, Kalil Mitchell, Swan Ferarro, and Vivian Ye
Special shoutouts to the amazing UW Glass program and crew:
Matthew Everett, Carolyn Spears, Kagen Dunn, and Helen Lee
With all my love, thank you to Mom, Dad, Claire and Mason.
Fabrication Acknowledgements and Gratitude
Fabrication Collaboration in glass with Matthew Everett and Carolyn Spears
My utmost gratitude to the gracious sponsor. Future Foam is a local company in Middleton. I could not have done this show without your support. I am so happy to have gotten to tour the facilities, see the process of foam, and see the exhibition come to life with your help. Thank you to Peter Doll, Kirk Kopplin, and the employees who all helped me at Future Foam!
My utmost gratitude to the gracious sponsor. Future Foam is a local company in Middleton. I could not have done this show without your support. I am so happy to have gotten to tour the facilities, see the process of foam, and see the exhibition come to life with your help. Thank you to Peter Doll, Kirk Kopplin, and the employees who all helped me at Future Foam!
