Broderick, Amy S.

Deconstructed Cartography is comprised of two related and complementary sections that use mapping structures to explore the temporality of location through the lens of personal experience within places. This body of work uses both collage and a light-shadow installation to develop a narrative of place and time. My artwork focuses on deconstructing classical modes of representation through the lens of cartography and places an emphasis on personal experiences, narratives, and storytelling of place or locale. I am interested in road maps, water bodies, topography, shadows, and the various ways humans attempt to navigate or make sense of the natural world through lines and different mapping structures.

Ardent Dwellings is a work about longing, self-exploration, and construction of identity through the arrangement of meticulously drawn and cut paper elements. Mainly consisting of drawn dried flower forms and expressive female hands, these elements come together in deliberate arrangements of spaces and relations. The moments of sensuality resulting from these exploratory touches signify moments created through traversing bodies and identities. To achieve this exploration visually, I created a collection of eight drawing collages and a large paper installation with mixed media components. The elements in this work are carefully placed in relation to one another with the intent of constructing an abstract narrative exploring the who, how, and the why of the self—specifically the queer self and the search for belonging that accompanies the discovery of this identity.

I believe art can offer an antidote to our numbness and rekindle a sense of childlike
wonder. Reclaiming Wonder is an installation in which I aim to explore the
possibility of evoking the curiosity of childhood in the viewer’s mind and transporting
him or her into a dreamlike atmosphere to wander about in wonder through the use of the
senses of sight, touch, and hearing.

My thesis exhibition will manifest a visual language I developed to express things I sense
but cannot explain. I will create a sacred space, people by paper silhouettes, to
communicate what it feels like to be alive while acknowledging different realities. Each
silhouette figure I make has its own character and expresses specific things, including
care, confusion, excitement, play, and wonder. These are all facets of my own
experiences in life. The white silhouettes are anchored to a physical reality. The
chromatic silhouettes are complicated by color. They are more difficult to make out –
they are more vulnerable and ambiguous. I am peopling the installation with many
silhouettes. This expresses the range of experiences I have had with people, as well as the
many possibilities that exist for human interaction.
I will create a translucent cylindrical environment that is specifically lit, with two layers
of fabric. I will embed over two thousand hand-cut paper figures within this environment.
One plane will represent the physical world that we all access and experience via our five senses. The other plane will express another realm – one that references spiritual or
otherwise non-physical realities.
In addition, I will exhibit a series of framed collages and a compilation of video clips that
have informed the development and process of my work.

As an MFA candidate at the Florida Atlantic University, I began in figurative
painting and ended with abstract ink and pencil drawings in my thesis work. In between
was a progression of artistic experimentation in theme, technique and medium to explore
issues of female identity and childhood sexual abuse. From a girl trapped in a dark
fairytale to a pregnant woman followed by a pedophile to a new mother frustrated that
her own ambitions have been usurped, the final transformation of female identity into
fierce protector came after confronting memories of child abuse. Using India ink and pencil drawings, my thesis work recreates scenes of a struggle between the same attacker and a powerful mother. She spins her own hair into a delicate, but powerful, barrier that keeps her daughter safe.