Alexa Gross:
I’m an experimental printmaker and researcher fascinated by the exploration of the mind, emotions, and what it means to be human. I explore themes of intergenerational memory, relationships, and identity through the lens of epigenetics and the inner workings of the mind. To me, the relationship between emotions and brain chemistry are inseparable, and one cannot detach the haptic aspect of art from how it is read and experienced by the mind.
My work stems from the experiences of my mother and grandmother and their stories. Using printmaking, drawing, and photography, I explore relationships and barriers in communication and culture. Playing with repetition, shape, and color, I address language, misunderstanding, and intimacy. Experimentation is at the core of my process. The interdisciplinary nature of my work allows it to take many forms: from an edition of prints, to a site specific drawing, to a scientific experiment.
Gloves serve as a record of our hands, bodies, and by extension, ourselves. Universally used and recognizable, gloves act as witness and protection for a multitude of activities. Gloves hold a role of particular significance for my mother and grandmother. After starting a new life for herself, my grandmother found work in a steel factory where she was given a pair of woven gloves each month to protect her hands. After giving birth to my mother, she collected the gloves each month, broke them down, and reformed them into winter pants to keep my mother warm.
I explore intergenerational memory and the Asian American identities of my grandmother, mother, and myself. I use the generative aspects of printmaking as a metaphor for the fragmentation and iteration of intergenerational memory. After researching gloves, family history, and interviewing my mother and grandmother, I created monotype prints using gloves and the pressure of my hand. Throughout the printing process, I unwove the gloves as I continued to print. Using the thread from the unraveled glove, I wove the material back together by stitching the prints into one collage.
