Caitlin Parker is drawn to places that emphasize the tension between the natural world and human intervention. Her local environment of Southern California inspires much of her subject matter. She has explored toxic superfund sites such as George Air Force Base, ongoing ecological disasters like the Salton Sea, and the iconic LA River, which alone could serve as a history lesson in the failures of human engineering. These narratives in which mankind and nature unsuccessfully intersect reflect deeper psychological anxieties: the prioritizing of humans above all else, our need for predictability and ownership, and fear in the face of nature’s indifference. The artist presents these places mid-transformation, exploring the line between apocalyptic and optimistic. Even with her anxiety about the destruction of the planet, she finds hope where the natural world is recovering and sometimes thriving despite our disastrous interventions.
Caitlin Parker’s subject matter has led her to create a sustainable and circular art practice. Almost everything in her studio is found, grown, gifted, or foraged. She makes the dyes from plants in her garden, from various food scraps, or from materials she forages on hikes through the Santa Monica Mountains
Even though the artist thinks of her textile works as paintings, she emphasizes that they are constructed entirely of fabric and put together through various sewing techniques: machine quilting, hand sewing, machine and hand appliqué, and hand quilting. In some, she adds embroidery. All incorporate textiles she’s modified with natural dye, cyanotype, hand printing, and bundle dyeing. All of her work, whether she is making a still life, an abstract composition, or a landscape, is a meditation on the natural world. And a celebration of its resilience.
www.instagram.com/caitlin_a_parker/
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