SAMANTHA M. CONNORS 

Within making, I am seeking to initiate conversation and action around wealth inequity, the inherent violence of gentrification, and community rooted trauma. I approach the grid as a framework to navigate change within neighborhoods through digital mapping and rebranding campaigns alongside the physical borders used by developers and actors of the state. My work frequently addresses the fragmented histories left behind by recently displaced people in Kensington and South Philadelphia, utilizing scavenged objects from demolition sites within sculptural works or by creating recreations of the lasting traces demolished buildings leave on the surrounding landscape. Recently I have been constructing hand-built representations of the tools used within construction projects to investigate the lasting mental health effects that occur in the people witnessing their neighborhood rapidly gentrify. My practice embraces the use of craft-based techniques and materials, bringing a homemaking and labor rooted skillset against a scarcity capitalist run world.