DVAA Member since 2022

Sara Havekotte

Artist Website:

sarahavekotte.net

About:

Sara Havekotte is an artist and arts professional working in Philadelphia, PA. Sara is trained broadly as a textile artist and works predominantly in quilting and weaving. Her work explores the intersection of textile history in relation to women’s experiences. Sara uses fiber material to create mid-scale wall works that loosely record her own lived experiences and then link them to broader concepts like spirituality and mythology.

Sara received her Master of Fine Art from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (2020) and her undergraduate degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art (2013). They have exhibited at spaces such as Room 482, Brooklyn, NY; Current Space Gallery, Baltimore MD; Atelier FAS Gallery, Philadelphia PA, and The Weaving Mill, Chicago IL. Before moving to Philadelphia for her master’s degree she was a participating member at Current Space Collective in Baltimore MD.

Artist Statement:

In my work I use story-telling to explore femininity and trauma. A lot of my work centers around the body, and includes textual components and reference to historical textile practices and motifs. Presence, absence and disruption are conceptual tools I use to create works where the viewer must consider not only what is being presented, but what is being left out. For me, speaking about pain is articulated not just in what is said, but also by what is omitted or avoided. A question I often ask in the studio is, how can these great silences or gaps be visualized through textile? There is a scar-tissue like nature to memory, and my work looks to highlight that. Sometimes, the placid surface of the ocean water holds a deadly undertow, sometimes a memory or story that is seemingly benign or beautiful on the surface holds within it a deep pain, or frightening reality.

My textile practice began with looking at my own journey of recovery from trauma. I used diary and journal entries and quilting and weaving techniques to visualize some key memories I carry with me that either helped me heal from my sexual abuse, or hindered it, and the current way those feelings manifest in my mind and body. For example, A Rotten Flower Grows Inside Me is a quilt that alludes to how I feel in my body and the thoughts of self-harm that come when my sexual trauma is retriggered. In my work The Artist with Hair and Boobs… The Artist With Friends the central panel reflects on the discomfort of sexual coercion and is then flanked by two panels of celebration, one of my body and the other, my community. The work Corrupted Memory File is my interpretation of what it looks like in my brain when I experience memory loss. Making these works is how I celebrated myself and my ongoing journey of recovery, while also presenting the experiences that made such radical acts of self-care necessary. In the end, these artworks become evidence of acts of self-care and community care.