The dog listens better than you
cotton, acrylic paint, polyester fill, foam, cardboard, wood
48 x 102 x 96 inches (approximately), 2023
Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
Over the past five years I lost my mother, my father and my eldest brother in quick succession. Each loss underscored the caregiving required of me as a daughter, sister, caregiver and parent. I was tasked to execute wishes for those who had passed. I provided care for those who were left in the wake of each loss. I emptied homes, apartments and saw that objects and money were distributed properly. With each loss I became more efficient, skilled in the aftermath, more competent and responsible. I learned I can take on a lot. I also had the benefit of privilege, a supportive partner and enough money to ease the load at times. This is another layer of the invisible labor of families which is often performed by women and mothers. There’s a prevailing assumption that somehow it will all get done. And yet it’s rarely acknowledged as labor and it’s seldom compensated properly if at all. I have acutely felt the impact and responsibility of this invisible labor over these past 5 years. For me it has been closely intertwined with grief. With each loss, I had formidable tasks to execute that were laden with expectations, guilt and deep love because they carried the added weight of honoring each deceased member of my family.
In case you were wondering
yes, I’m still a potato
cotton, acrylic paint, insulation foam, poly-fil
2022
If something inflatable came in a hole
what would it look like
cotton, acrylic paint, insulation foam, poly-fil
2022
Kate Holcomb Hale uses painting, sculpture, installation, and video to explore how an artist develops a unique visual voice in the face of adversity and transforms personal spaces into sites for creativity. This exhibition is an inviting space, perhaps because it is familiar. Through hand-sewn soft sculptures and paper clay impressions of object fragments such as cabinets, doors and light switches, Hale’s installation reveals itself to be a domestic space, albeit one in a disordered state. During the global pandemic, home was where the artist worked, and the process of creating art amidst everything else happening within the domestic sphere became a chaotic yet vital lifeline.
Since COVID, many of us have a clearer understanding of what it feels like to have the work-life-home-school-family balance completely upended, and many were already familiar with the intensity of balancing multiple roles. Care work is essential and time-consuming, yet it is often unseen and undervalued labor. Hale calls her soft sculptures “shock absorbers,” as they functioned as a “soft landing” for her after a period of intense caregiving for her family during the pandemic. Hale’s act of unburdening stress, anxiety, and grief through creating has resulted in brightly animated yet radically disrupted domestic space – tables slump and slouch while pieces of the home climb the walls and spill onto the floor. Hale’s work is dynamic and immersive, and her pieces both consider the burden and privilege that comes with caregiving. This exhibition acknowledges the impact the past few years have had on all of us and provides space that encourages empathy and connection – between the artist, the subject and the viewer.
-Jessica Roscio, curator The Danforth Art Museum
cheerios
paper clay
2023
enlighten (lamp)
paper clay, chalk pastel,
acrylic paint, electrical cord
2023
