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STATEMENT:
My work is queer.
It’s both straightforward and unclear.
It’s a processing of identities - many of them.
It’s about how we communicate; the words we use and don’t use.
It’s about unlearning what we’ve been socialized to understand and expect.
It’s nonsensical sense.
It’s the space in between definitions.
My art is soft whimsy tinged with a biting reality. I reclaim methods of making typically coded as feminine (i.e. fiber, sewing, knitting ,and dyeing) in combination with original poems to broach complexities in identity, psyche, and unlearning. The material and color choices cause the work to, at first, read as comfort objects; soft and inviting. The comfort objects (fabric books and stuffed objects) reference children’s learning tools and are infused with adult concepts. They reveal an assertive and at times confrontational voice. The language in the work makes reference to the body, includes vivid description, and asks for actions.
BIO:
Anna Warfield (she/they, b. 1995) is based in Binghamton, New York. Her predominantly text-based fiber works engage with the body, unlearning, and identity.
Their recent solo exhibitions includes UNDOINGS at SUNY Oneonta’s Martin Mullen Gallery (2024) and Placid Thoughts from Inside Her Eyelids at Roberson Museum’s Sears Harness Hall (2023-2024). Warfield has exhibited with MAG Rochester, Finger Lakes Community College, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Schweinfurth Art Center, Ithaca Print Shop, Cayuga Museum, Artisan Gallery, Evelyn Peeler Peacock Gallery, and the Vestal Museum.
In 2024 she received a BCAC Artist Residency, a United Cultural Fund Project Grant, and an Arts in the Community Individual Artist Commission Grant. In 2023 Warfield received a NYSCA Individual Artist Support Grant, a Saltonstall Residency and Fellowship, a Community Foundation for South Central New York Women’s Fund grant, an Honorable Mention in the Southern Tier Biennial. Her work received the Juror’s Choice Award in the 2021 Southern Tier Biennale as well as a NYFA/NYSCA Artist Grant in 2020, and a HYPE Award in the Arts from the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce in 2019. Her Public Art debut was coordinated with Jessica Arb Danial Art Advisory in 2020. Warfield holds a B.F.A. and B.S. in Communication both from Cornell University where her 2018 thesis received the Charles Baskerville Painting Award.
Warfield spoke as a panelist in the 2023 Text and Techne Conference at Trinity College, Dublin and has contributed as a guest speaker at NYFA, Cornell University, Binghamton University, and SUNY Oneonta. he has worked on projects with and for a number of artists and institutions including; Na Chainkua Reindorf (Venice Biennale, Ghana Pavillon, 2022), Carrie Mae Weems (The Shape of Things, Park Avenue Armory, 2021), and LUMA Projection Arts Festival (Production Director, 2020 - 2022; Consultant, 2023; Small Works Curator, 2024).