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Artist Profile

JE Baker

Studio Resident (2018-2019)

Mixed Media
Statement of Work

My artwork examines embodiment and spatial experience through the sensory dimension of wetness. Often it appears as installation; sometimes as sculpture made from materials that show evidence of having been wet, such as handmade paper or evaporated salts; and sometimes I use video, sound, the book, and/or language as time-based formats to connote a state of being/having been wet. My work uses various forms of wetness including milk, water erosion, and the sea to underscore relational—and often gendered—themes in biblical storytelling, the founding myth of Rome, and NASA’s Cassini mission, respectively.

An investigation of the cultural, social, and ritualistic practices of bathing is the focus of my most recent projects. This inquiry is being realized as The Bather’s Manifesto, a foundational and multi-chapter text that explores the auditory and tactile qualities of water by incorporating common ASMR triggers recorded within a sensory deprivation saltwater flotation tank. The content of The Bather’s Manifesto addresses historical, contemporary, and possible future notions of the bather as a signifier for desire, objectification, embodiment, and identity.

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