Questions from my body to yours is a selection of material investigations led by artist Nancy Julia Hicks (they/them). Pieces amalgamate from a collection of images that span Google Maps, bodies of water, oil derricks, recorded performances, and writing. The installation illustrates a poetic attraction to the similarities found between the infliction of pain on a space and on the body. By using language and gathered imagery, they question the ways in which we encounter this harm; these experiences can be at an institution, such as the museum, or in rural spaces, like an oil derrick in the middle of an ocean.

Hicks has incorporated a fascinating oeuvre of new materials within the last two years. For example, they have begun to printmake with asphaltum, printing on latex, improperly reassembling decommissioned guns, sewing with human hair, fur, and dirt gathered from specific locations. They use many of these materials to reference histories of physical or ecological violence that occurs towards and upon the human body.

These intimate spaces reference Hicks’ personal history, intentionally creating connections between the body, constructed space, and implied land in order to analyze its politicized history. Navigating intentionality with materials allows them to imbue historical context into the works. Objects within this show are made out of soft, tactile, and inviting materials that entice viewers to interact with them, replicating systems of complacency. 

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