Mallory Kimmel
Kimmel is a Washington DC-based artist, curator, educator, and writer who makes conceptual furniture to address exclusionary design practices. She focuses on disrupting loopholesused to deny human rights. Placing the focus on object-centric forms of possession, exclusion, objectification, and consumption helps to unravel the exploitation of objects to address the same forms of abuse applied to people.
She says: “The compulsion to seek comfort with objects brought me to make conceptual furniture large enough to hold the human body. The materials used are rooted in traditional-craft arts and furniture making. The objects themselves are durable in the sense that they can weather public interaction, though the upholstery foam can rip and ceramics may break if not handled with care. The implication of potential ruin and invitation to interact with these objects facilitates the opportunity for the viewer to rewrite the human and object relationship to one of enacting companionship. My performances serve as a demonstration of potential gestures to elicit a new bond with objects and extend a democratised entry point for viewers to experience the work for themselves. The interactions and performances are a collective act to dismantle a system of use and abuse where humans and objects can be liberated from being expendable. I believe if we liberate objects, we liberate people. My previous work is in the chair vernacular, exploring postures and positions for phenomenological experiences. My developing series of objects will show personified expressions that evoke the notion of furniture on strike to illustrate the object’s exhaustion and denial of subordination to serve humans without end.”
