About

My work emerges from the intersection of the personal and political, currently engaging in discussions of body autonomy and gender norms. Using social practice and mixed-media sculpture including textiles, metals, ceramics, and glass, I reflect on the vulnerability and power of living in a female assigned body and explore the ways larger societal issues can connect us to each other regardless of identity and experience.

Participation is central to my work in which I create space to consider each of our own relationships to gender, power, and body autonomy.  Gathering oral and written responses brings specificity to broad topics and weaves together common themes and points of connection.

A passion for materials and focus on texture and surface is a driving force in my work, represented in the wide range of media I use from clay, metal, glass and textiles to found objects and natural matter.  I intentionally push materials to the edge of what they can do, and work at developing a language they can speak together.

I find both a deep calm and riveting chaos when immersed in the natural world. A sentiment of merging with its rhythm is a through-line in my work. Currently, my participatory weaving and listening practice invites people—as well as trees and textiles—as collaborators in the creation of mixed-material installations.

Bio

Larisa Usich is a sculptor and social practice artist exploring the ways in which immersive installations and human interaction can open us to different realms of experience. Through a feminist lens she asks questions about what is needed to create an equitable public life by unraveling gender norms and issues of body autonomy.  Usich is a third generation Californian deeply influenced by its wild spaces. She earned an MFA in Spatial Arts at San José State University, and a BA in Classics at Brown University.