Steel, reclaimed redwood, paint.
Height: 21’ Width: 19’ Depth: 55’
Built by a mostly femme and non-binary identifying crew, Earth Bather celebrates black joy, self-love, and nurturance of the body.
Artist Statement: For Earth Bather, we were really attempting to transform our approach to big-art making, while making an extraordinarily technically challenging piece. As a new mother, starting these designs with a 4 month old daughter, I knew I had to approach the intense labors of fabrication differently than ever before. During fabrication, we centered full crew self-care, unlimited schedule flexibility, lots of communication, and identifying/transforming oppressive work norms that any of us carry or perpetuate. We all experienced a lot of healing as we met the inevitable challenges and rewards of this kind of work. Every large scale sculpture has to have a certain gravity and power in vision to hold a crew together, and Earth Bather had a really special hold on us all. I felt the devotion level in the crew as high as I ever have, and I love that about her. When I look at her I see the healing, tears, laughter, and good work of the many women and people who made her. When I behold her finished and basking in the earth, I see the innumerable black women whose brilliance and beauty create so much greatness in our world. I move forward with new understandings of what is possible, not only in what we can create, but how we can go about bringing our visions into the world.
Lead Artist/Designer/3D Modeling/Lead Fabricator: Heather BeGaetz
Model/Muse: Tonya Abernathy
Metal Lead: Julia Andalora
Wood Lead: Sheba Hulsing
Crew Artists: Miki Masahura-Page, 'Bee' Brittni Ballou, Tonya Abernathy, Jess Jurries, Allessandra Sanniola, Insa Evans, Diane Grundy, Fez BeGaetz, James Fritz
Engineers: Camilo Otero, Ali Iahijanian, RBHU Team