“the spiral within us”
by caitie biggs / karmic delay
artist statement
there lies within us a spiral: a fibrous energy created from strands of the ones we’ve loved before. i see my grandmother in loose sequins i find. an old friend in the shells i drill. a long-gone ancestor in the wires i twist…
there is something beautiful, and comforting, in finding pieces of ourselves in one another; and an understanding is birthed between the future and the past when you recognize your passions are not new.
when i reimagine vintage and secondhand, i find more than steel and gold before me: there are memories linked amongst these chains. i hear echoes of dreams in every charm. my work is not a craft but a ritual.
in every piece lies the memory of dozens of women, who i continue my work for: i draw inspiration from victorian, tudor and other historical eras, and use materials recognizable across these eras. and while my style is undoubtedly modern craftsman in nature, i find myself wondering if they truly are new:
for it is not our ideas, but our freedom to express that is new. the spiral has continued to pass over old dreams until we can pursue them… it’s in these times we must reach out, and connect in order to progress. the future is not about novelty, but our ability to understand ourselves and one another.