Trickhouse #15: Erin Lynn Forrest

Since this is ever hopeful to me.

we fail, she says, we fail.

we do great things.

(nothing is broken here.)

what the body believes when it is bound.

Erin Forrest in conversation with TC Tolbert

(And, my friend, do you know the word pinioned?)

More than just queering failure, Erin’s work asks us to consider freedom in constraint. A quilt made of rubber patches. Clews. Balls made out of difficulty (and wax) (and thread). Nets and wings. The stuff of bondage. Who will not be made a monster? What does holding lessen? In what ways: expansion within restraint? If I tie you up, do you promise to hit me back?

(How it means to be bound as well as winged…)

Erin Lynn Forrest is an interdisciplinary artist originally from California’s Bay Area. She is a big fan of the color red, poems, knee socks, and making soup. She holds a BFA from California College of the Arts, and an MFA from the University of New Mexico. Now living in Santa Fe, NM, Erin runs The Thistle, an arts program committed to providing art-making opportunities and resources for artists experiencing poverty, homelessness, and marginalization. Erin also works as a Harm Reduction Advocate, and has been involved with crisis response and social justice projects for over 20 years. This month, she is celebrating 7 years of sobriety and her dog's 10th birthday, both of which feel like really big deals. Hopefully she will update her website soon, and you can visit it at www.erinforrest.com.

kate russell photography (images 2,3,4,6,7,8), all others erin forrest.

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