Aida Millett
Artist Statement:
“My process is informed by taking things apart, removing, replacing, cutting, pasting, sewing, and building, in order to discover the space where transitions occur and where stories of impermanence unfold.
Through the placement of often, solitary objects (a chair, an embroidered bird, a window, a stack of books, a single house, etc.), I insert my own inflection into a language of craft, empowered by symbolism and technique.
I have used installation, sculpture, embroidery, textiles, photography, video, drawing, and collage to explore these metaphorical spaces. Traces of untold stories linger in each object. Often devoid of humans, the spaces/objects reveal the illusion of an ephemeral ghost-like atmosphere, where we witness a push and pull between the familiar and the unfamiliar.
In addition, the objects and images I use, speak to the multiplicity of cultural identity, how they overlap, mesh, collide, and separate. Dark, light, imperfect, detailed, yet simple, the work reveals as much as it withholds. Each piece asks us to imagine a place or an object as a person… or even as ourselves.”
Bio:
Adia Millett, originally from Los Angeles, California received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. In 2001, she moved to New York City for the prestigious Whitney Museum Independent Study Program, followed by the Studio Museum in Harlem residency program. Millett has been a standout in numerous group exhibitions including the well-received “Greater New York” show at PS1 in Long Island City, New York and “Freestyle” at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. In the past, she has been included in exhibitions at the Barbican Gallery in London; The Craft and Folk Museum in LA; The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta; The Santa Monica Museum of Art; and The Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans. Millett has taught as an artist in residence at Columbia College in Chicago, UC Santa Cruz, Cooper Union in NY, and California College of the Arts. Millett currently has a solo show at the California African American Museum.