ANGELA GUERRA WALLEY

Dress Quilt Portraits

Utilizing both craft and photography in my studio has been ideal for exploring themes of love and nurturing, history and memory, and grief and healing. Craft runs in my family history as a way of expressing love through making and photography gives me a way to capture all that love.

I can fix my collaged dresses in a quilted form the same way I can fix an emotional expression through my photography. I’m making forms designed to be touched — dresses as quilts, so these objects are alluring and aesthetically pleasing objects. I’m able to give audiences access to experiences of gratification through touch with my self-portrait photography. My hope is viewers will feel the endorphins that run through my body when I’m draped in a quilted dress. In this way, my portraits provide audiences with all the feelings of love and comfort I’ve longed for.