Artist Biography

Vivian Zettler Bailey is a visual artist from Seattle, Washington, currently based in Oberlin, Ohio, where she is completing her final year at Oberlin College. She is pursuing dual degrees in Studio Art and Anthropology, with a minor in Book Studies, a combination that reflects her investment in both the tactile processes of making and the cultural narratives embedded within objects and memories. Coming from a background in many different mediums, Bailey found her passion for printmaking in Oberlin’s reproducible media lab; she now works primarily in printmaking and fiber arts, mediums through which she explores the fragmentation and fragility of memory, as well as the complexities of female identity. Through textured surfaces and layers of linework, Bailey’s art reflects how personal and collective identities are worn, unraveled, and stitched back together. Bailey embraces experimentation and subversion, using her work as a space for critical reflection, emotional resonance, and humor. Her playful sensibility allows her to approach complex themes with both depth and lightness, creating a space of experimentation, emotional resonance, and critical reflection within her practice.

Artist Statement

My current practice is shaped most notably by my grandmother’s descent into dementia, which sparked an ongoing inquiry into how memory is stored, distorted, and ultimately disintegrated. Drawing on themes of patchwork, repetition, and colorwork, I strive to represent in my work the disjointed logic of recollection, the simultaneous vividness and obscurity of memory. Also central to my work is an investigation into the construction and presentation of female identities, particularly in the ways they are mediated through material culture and visual language.

Humor and play are vital to my practice, allowing me to hold space for both tenderness and critique. My conceptual approach is informed by the political provocations of twentieth century movements like Dadaism and Fluxus, which challenged traditional forms and engaged with social conditions while embodying an ethos of humorous irreverence. Through my work, I play with absurd juxtapositions and tactile mischief, encouraging viewers to consider what is serious, what is sentimental, and what is staged.