I was raised in a home where art was not only tradition but a survival instinct. My father spent his days scuba diving for leaks and his nights directing high school theater. My mother, an occupational therapist and ceramicist, taught me to transform pain and desire into something tangible. In the woods of my childhood, my siblings and I shaped our world through imaginary quests, role-play, and endless comic relief. Being queer, I felt both separate from yet deeply connected to everything around me.
I build environments that invite and unsettle, attracting with humor, beauty, and surreal exaggeration before confronting with hard truths about contemporary society. Using domestic debris and odd mythologies, I craft sculptures and installations that critique and treasure the culture that shaped them. Dioramas, relics, and props become volatile historical evidence. In site-specific POV performance videos, I blur the line between audience and performer.
My work challenges norms that perpetuate American violence, with recurring attention to the nuclear family, capitalism, imperialism, and sexuality. Symbols of U.S. politics are made grotesque, pulled apart with satire to expose corruption and barbaric power. Mortality is central, with the body serving as an intermediary between metaphysical realms and raw human existence.
b. 1994 Worcester, Massachuetts
davidweswhite@gmail.com
