Betsy Odom

My work explores the ephemera surrounding various displays of identity. I work with materials like tooled leather, sporty fabric, chunky silver, blocks of cork, and airbrushed paints. Seen in the right context, these materials become signifiers of the cultural phenomena that have surrounded my own development: the South, women's athletics, queer culture, hobbyists, and summer camp. The aesthetics within these cultures reinforce embedded messages about gender, class, race, and sexuality. I use earnest craftsmanship and humor to extract and subvert these messages, creating objects that move freely among social constructs and confront the contradictions therein. -- Betsy Odom