Statement

As I explore community dynamics in a time of societal reimaging, I am interested in the power of the imagination to create new realities.  Through a Science Fiction lens, I ask - how can creativity enhance the interdependent relationships necessary for building communities? What does a world look like that is interdependent, collectivist, and teeming with joy and life?

My passion for Science Fiction stems from an interest in the leaking of the foreign into our known reality. In the same way that Science Fiction literature and film defamiliarizes known scenarios and social systems, I am interested in splicing my uncanny work with known experiences in the world around us. These rich fictional worlds invite storytelling, imagination, and recontextualization of complex societal narratives which are woven through the fabric of our interconnected lives.

I create environments that offer to engulf participants as they interact with their newfound surroundings, encouraging curious exploration.  In line with the work being part of the everyday, using fabric to create these creatures and worlds feels significant as it is a material we are all in contact with constantly. Creating the otherworldly with such a common medium underlines the reality that new worlds are possible, to each human and as a species, through small action and creativity.

Bio

Lily Erb is a trans artist living in Kansas City, MO. Lily received their BFA from Hampshire College in Sculpture and Printmaking in 2013 and their MFA from Ohio University in Sculpture + Extended Practice in 2022. They are a Teaching Artist for Community and Access Programs at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of art and a member of The Welcome Gallery.  Lily spent the first eight years of their creative career working almost exclusively with steel after signing up for a welding class in college and falling in love with welding. They have been focusing on soft sculpture after rediscovering a love of sewing while in residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in the fall of 2018. Other residencies Lily attended are Yellow Bird Art Park, Wabi Sabi Thrift Store, and Paducah A.I.R.