Marcella Marsella is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work takes many forms. A self-described “maximalist”, collage is at the heart of everything she makes. Quilting (collage in fabric form) is a centuries-old craft that involves unraveling objects and reassembling them to reveal curious motifs and messages. Historically, quilts have provided comfort and warmth, while also serving as a means of storytelling and preserving heritage. Marsella’s quilts simultaneously keep with and break quilting traditions through unconventional materials and subject matter. They take on the task of elevating “women’s work” by examining how oppressions are intertwined, specifically, the link between non-human creatures, nature, and women.
Marsella’s work is influenced by Umwelt, a biological theory that describes how a given animal experiences the world around it by taking in information through their senses. She states, “I seek to…bring non-human animals into an equitable position with humans through artmaking. Fabric, a material imbued with a deep history of feminine touch, is important to me for its ability to braid intimacy, vulnerability, and power while invoking the legacy of anonymous women artisans.”
For her exhibition at Philadelphia International Airport, Marsella presents three quilts against a wallpaper backdrop of her own design. A minotaur, the mythological half-man half-beast, is the central figure in her largest quilt. Surrounded by a sea of fish and chain links, the dazzling sensory overload suggests the interconnectedness of all beings and the experience of being confined by culture and unfettered by nature at the same time.
