Sonya Clark

cloth

Surrounded by cloth since birth, we understand cloth deeply and instinctively. The strands of fiber that make cloth relate to our own biological structure: hair, veins, and musculature. Cloth patterns and textures evoke help to identify who we are individually and culturally. I claim my place in the craft continuum brought to the Western Hemisphere during the forced migration from Africa. That part of my ancestry came empty-handed but retained a deep understanding of the power of cloth. The ubiquity of fiber extends the work from cultural specificity to universality.

“No matter her materials, Clark “braids” and “twists” associations, creating works with a distinctly emotional tensile strength.”

—Leah Ollman
Art Critic, L.A. Times