St Louis, MO
3/20/15 12:56 PM
Paper contains verbal and visual ideas as skin contains the organs of our bodies. Piercing either of these materials must be done with the greatest of care if integrity is to be maintained and infection avoided. In a series of embroidered intaglio prints that reproduce anatomical diagrams, Joanna Hoge wields a needle and thread as well as the roller of a printing press, with results that suggest the movement of substances physical and metaphysical through regions of the body: air and speech through the mouth, blood and lymph through the pelvis, warm touch and defensive protection around the torso. The awkward addition of photographic imagery and a bedroom setting feels unnecessary. A brief text about verbal domestic abuse printed near stitched-up internal tissues implies the body’s main method of repair: scarring. If mended well enough, a torn piece of paper, like a torn apart person, will come out stronger.
—Lori Waxman