Andy Šlemenda

My work interrogates how we locate “home”: within our bodies corporeally, within a group culturally, or within a place geographically. This quest for “home” is propelled by my own origin story emerging from rural Appalachian Pennsylvania. A region sardonically referred to as “Pennsyltucky” which is characterized by its struggling, agricultural working-class, paranormal sightings like the Mothman and Amish and Quaker religious communities. Dually at odds and spellbound by this conservative place—being myself trans* presenting—that inherent incongruity gave me insight into not only gender performativity but code-switching on a larger scale, blurring the lines between our interior otherness and outward masks.

This new body of wall-hanging sculptures presented in Himmelsbrief further merges the imaginal and material. These sculptures hover between taxidermy trophies and the mandala-like Amish hex paintings, both recurring specters of my childhood. The works’ unifying feature are their circular wood supports formally anchoring these assemblages. Here, I complicate regional folk art traditions, both memorializing Appalachian craft and re-imaging these artifacts’ potential in an increasingly globalized and secular world. The title, Himmelsbrief, comes from Pennsylvania Dutch folk magic, Braucherei, itself a disappearing practice. The Himmelsbrief or “heavenly letter” are inscribed talismans fashioned for health and protection, often asking for divine intervention or addressing the dead.