Held at the Edge

2026

Held at the Edge explores the tension between control and resistance through the interaction of hog casings and wire mesh.

The work is constructed by repeatedly pushing and pulling hog casings through the uniform openings of a wire mesh structure. While the mesh functions as a rigid system that organizes and constrains the material, the casings continuously stretch, sag, dry, and deform in response to gravity and time. As the material shrinks, it tightens around the wire and becomes increasingly entangled with the structure that contains it.

Rather than presenting a stable form, the work exists in a state of ongoing negotiation between order and instability. The repetitive act of threading the material through the mesh reflects a desire to regulate and control, while the material's unpredictable transformation resists complete containment.

Through this process, the work examines how systems of control are never fully resolved but remain dependent on continuous maintenance and vigilance. The tension between the soft organic material and the rigid framework becomes a reflection of the fragile balance between structure and collapse, restraint and release.