Michelle Peterson
Jacob's Ladder
acrylic on canvas
2022
In her latest work, Michelle uses string figures to access the larger threads that combine to create everyday life. She uses symbols such as rocks, birds and hands interspersed and oriented around visible and invisible strings to map a personal psychogeography. Jung used a stone as a symbol for the self while birds are classically the symbol for the soul. The metaphysical architecture that binds us together in the form of shared narrative and identity is depicted in fragments, letting the viewer intuit the line that connects each piece of the map. String figures are an ancient tradition used, as Donna Haraway points out, to facilitate a linguistic call and response – in this body of work the fragments, portraits, and strings themselves play off of each other generating both formal and symbolic associations encouraging the viewer to think about what connects us,
expressivity and the stories we tell about ourselves.
Michelle Peterson (b.1986) is a visual artist and a mother of two residing in southern New Hampshire. She received her BFA from New Hampshire Institute of Art in 2011, and her MFA from the Institute of Art and Design at New England College in 2020. Michelle curates private exhibitions and became a member of the New Hampshire Art Association in 2022. She works in multiple mediums, including painting, photography, and fiber art.
