Erica Mendoza is an artist from Jacksonville, FL, living and working in Knoxville, TN. She received her BFA with a concentration in sculpture at the University of North Florida and is currently a Masters of Fine Arts candidate in sculpture and Graduate Teaching Associate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Mendoza’s work has been exhibited throughout the Jacksonville and Knoxville area, and recently in New York City, NY. Mendoza has recently served as a Hot Metal Artist in Residence at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, MN, as well as an Artist in Residence at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL.

I create evidence that serves as proof that events happened and what I felt was real. Works act as a bookmark in time and space, saving a place that I can come back to. They become an amplification of my insignificant moments and a narration of monumental ones. My present tense is, therefore, a reaction to my past. My internal rebuttal is an incessant search for stability in a constantly evolving future.

Readily available and familiar imagery present both painful anecdotes and tropes of romantic relationships. I am interested in the physical and intangible links that bind two individuals together: what connects Point A to Point B. Works are an investigation of giving form to communication by drawing a line through the space between two bodies. Catharsis is often a byproduct of tedious hand-embroidery processes. The repetition of action creates a forced remembrance, though the objective is “letting go,” “forgetting,” and “saying goodbye.”