self-mending material consists of eight cameo engraved fused glass panels. Cameo engraving is a process that removes lighter colored glass (traditionally white) to reveal dark transparent colors; it uses specific mark making through the removal of material in order to create an image. Scarring results from a similar removal of material that could be considered a form of unintentional mark making affecting both the body and the mind. Both cameo engraving and scarring may have different intentions, but both leave marks that cannot be undone. These marks can then be brought together to tell stories about the object or person that they belong to. Self-mending Material reveals what processing these wounds can be like, and how connections are made between the body and mind.

Historically, colored glass windows are present in churches allowing sunlight to reveal a story, and creating a space that connects the metaphysical to the material world. This simple use of light and glass merges these two facets of our identity, and allows the magnitude of the spiritual to become concrete. In self-mending material the hands reflect the human body and the light through the light through the glass shows the abstractness of the human mind. The connection between the two planes is almost forced by the sets of stitches throughout the panels. These stitches show how the body and mind tell each other “we will heal together.”