2024
Donated contemporary and antique clothing, steel, Kevlar, yarn, rope, wire, twine, lace, wool, ceramics, redwood, eucalyptus, campher, pine, wolf lichen, stories.
Recurring ideas about the ways we are each uniquely woven between what’s societally constructed and what feels natural within emerged out of my conversations in The Pants Project. For some, external expectations and internal realities merge seamlessly but for many it is more complex. In my interpretation, gender norms, societal expectations, cultural and religious beliefs are all wound up with inner nature, wild and free.
2024
Arm-woven donated clothing and fabricated steel frame, 8' x 3' x 3'
A cocoon provides space for transformation, protection, wonder. Like a cape or curtain, it shields your body inside, dampening stimuli from the outside. Many participants of The Pants Project spoke about times when their goal with attire was to achieve “invisibility”, “protection”, “conformity” or “blending in”, not for creative expression or being noticed. Some experienced imposed coverage of their bodies, not by choice.
The form of this sculpture emerged from a darker concept. Dressed in all black coverings from head to toe, “The Crows” is a nickname given to the female enforcers inside Iranian police stations, as described by a project participant. Girls and women detained for inappropriate attire by the morality police are documented and intimidated by “The Crows” before being released to a male guardian. To me, this connected to a story my mom told me about the strict nuns who were in charge of her at boarding school when she was only 10. They required that she cover herself with hand towels while bathing in order not to see her own body or, god forbid, touch it.
I began to think about all of the ways women act to uphold and maintain patriarchal systems of control over women’s bodies, including those now fighting vehemently against abortion rights, and yes, most powerfully the voices within ourselves, the traces that remain internalized over centuries.
2024
Cast glass, pants pockets, steel belt, led lights, 24" x 36" x 3"
What we carry and have access to can speak to many facets of identity, including gender.
Did you know that within the long history of pockets are issues of gender politics, security, sexuality, and privilege? Disputes around concealment, deportment, and power gain new perspective when looked at through the medium of pockets.
Cast glass pocket in shades of blue, black, green and clear glass.
2023 - ongoing
Audio (171 min., looping) and 70 printed pages of quotes.
Oral and written responses generated by the participatory workshop Who Wears the Pants, an exploration of gender, parity, and possibility. I invited participants to reflect on their relationship to clothing and identity, and to share their stories whether serious or silly. This project is ongoing and invites participation from anyone interested in adding to the story.
Hear stories: https://soundcloud.com/larisa-usich/the-pants-project-stories
Wall of written responses to The Pants Project.
Who Wears the Pants, a participatory workshop deconstructing pants.
2022
Steel, wool, porcelain, Eucalyptus bark, 8’ x 14’ x 3’
This work is my response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the ensuing abortion laws and debates across our country. As an ‘elephant in the room’, this large-scale sculpture calls for discussion about what it truly means to achieve a gender-equal world. The hollow fallopian tubes facilitate dialog—their open ends are conical listening devices made of porcelain. The exterior cladding in Eucalyptus bark references the wild of the natural world and concepts of protection and shedding. The interior surfaces are soft wool fiber, a participatory “yarn bombing” weaving together the stories of its makers. The structure of the piece is fabricated in steel; the strength and resilience of this material a nod to women’s continued fight for equality.
My artwork is both a political statement and a personal one. I reflect on the vulnerability and power of living in a female assigned body and pay personal tribute to the end of nearly 40 years of a reproductive life. Throughout that time my body has experienced what it is to be vulnerable and to be strong, to be out of my control, to be a blessing and a burden, and to house miracles. Childbirth connects me to what women have forever endured in carrying and creating all humans, often with great sacrifice. I honor the experiences of all people with a female-assigned reproductive system— for loss and grief, for the choice to reproduce or not no matter the reason, and for the right to express ones gender independent of a reproductive system.
2022
Jeans and pages of Dobbs judgement, slip dipped in clay and burned out, 12” x 15” x 3”
Your laws were in my pants.
But they’re only paper and burned up—dipped in clay for posterity and fired.
I decide what goes in my pants—your laws, no thanks.
My being is made of more than you can ever control, My body and those of my sisters create humanity. My spirit, invincible.
Out of the fire comes a Green Wave,
worldwide solidarity shown in the green pants. Sisterhood amongst those who know what it is to live in a body filled with vulnerability, power, and rage.
I was invited to be part of a 50-artist collaboration marking the 50th anniversary of Roe, entitled HUQ: I SEEK NO FAVOR. Huq is an Urdu word for rights, and ‘I seek no favor’ originates from an Audre Lorde poem ‘a woman speaks’. Each artist was given four distinct pages from the 213 page document legalizing the abortion ban. www.huq-iseeknofavor.com
2023
Cast glass, embedded copper, rammed earth, 12” x 9” x 4” each
This work addresses the current circus-like political state of reproductive health in our country and the threats to birth control acccess and transparent sex education. Here is a balloon man, a marvelous high wire venus, and a master juggler in the house. Let’s get the show on the road!
2023
My grandmothers antique chair, lace tablecloth, Eucalyptus branches, coat hangers, table top, 7’ x 7’ x 3’
2021
Bronze, ceramic, sand, water, acrylic, 20” x 13” x 9”
The merging of body and water, mental states during the pandemic, dreams of amphibiousness, floating and sinking, fueled a series of explorations with water.
2023 - 2024
Small to large scale exploratory weaving sketches made of fibers, pants, scraps. Using intuitive gestural expression, they gave space to experiment with concepts, materials, and techniques.
2021
Clay, glaze, bronze, 12”x 12”x 5” ea.
Abstract mounds became a vehicle for me to explore the complex meaning of ground across a number of locations in the American West, where my family has been for four generations. My grandfather and great-grandfather were geologists and mining engineers—their passions and professions. This inquiry contained the paradox of environmental destruction and hazardous working conditions created by mining, while also meeting the demand for minerals and metals that underpinned the growth of this region. Through using the soil and clay dug in my yard, and clay mined in the town of Amador, CA where my grandmother was born during its gold mining boom, I connected to my family history and grappled with our part in the settling and exploitation of the region.
A collaboration by Laamie Young, Sam Crookston-Herschlag, Larisa Usich
2023
Reclaimed redwood, steel, pants and vintage fabric, 5' x 6' x 4'
Improvisational collaborative blanket fort guided by the theme of comfort. We collaborated in an open-ended spontaneous fashion, responding to each others gestures and next moves. Materials came from items we have loved, found and reclaimed, all woven together into a gestural flying tapestry.
