Presented by Linnea Cat Stahura
“Brown the Color of Beauty”
Sharlene Prosser
Oregon based Sharlene Prosser is a BIPOC maker who primarily works with clay. I have been incorporating text and my written poetry in my works in 2018 when I took my first letterpress and bookbinding class. When I found this poem by Terra, a young Black female, I felt as though her poem was giving me the courage to speak freely about my experiences as a BIPOC female to feel and own my power in this world and to write it down.
“Brown the Color of Beauty”, 2020, 2”x3”, matte board, cut text from letterpress reassembled found poem.
I have cut and reassembled the words from this poem by Terra in order to recontextualize a new interpretation. My interpretation. Poetry in my practice has allowed me to show my unique perspective of life. telling a story the use of text is a way that I express my emotion as an act of resistance.
Linea Cat Strahura
I am a queer and nonbinary, Japanese and Polish, chronically ill artist living and working in Portland, Oregon. My work centralizes around text and image, and I use the combination of these two elements to create connection with my community in a multitude of ways. I started my calligraphy work in Japan where my grandmother grew up, and continued my art practice to pursue illustration, bookbinding, and virtual reality environments. Textural lettering and mutual aid organizations are now my driving force, and I am hoping to focus on blending technology and art to keep expanding this work.