Vigilant (E.coli, Salmonella, Anthrax, Botulism, Ebola, Smallpox)
2002
hand latch-hooked yarn on canvas
approx. 120"H x 204"W
installation dimensions variable
(also exhibited on gallery floor)

Vigilant is a series of hand latch-hooked wall sculptures. Each sculpture displays a colorful and simplified rendering of a microorganism including E.coli, Salmonella, Anthrax, Botulism, Ebola, and Smallpox. Latch hooking is a simple but time-consuming craft that has traditionally been used to depict idealized and romanticized images from domesticity and nature. The juxtaposition of the images and the process creates a tension between the sweetness of the craft and the anxiety evoked by organisms of bio-terrorism and household biohazards.

Installation Views:
Limn Art Gallery

Reviews:
Martin, Stacy, "Test People and Beneath the Skin: Levitation and latch-hook rugs at Limn”, San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 4, 2007