Dara Etienne

to enter commune (2022)

Searching for Sticky Voids / Senior Senminar Group Exhibition 

May 13 - August 22 2022, Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), Williamstown, MA

Materials: Cotton fabric, cotton batting, embroidery thread, yarn, copper and steel wire, cardboard, buttons, glass beads, pearls, assorted jewelry, pendants, earring backs, chains, clasps, safety pins, needles, aluminum, steel, assorted hardware, washers, hex nuts, thumbtacks

Quilting has a long history of storytelling; it is a medium for the quilter to record their state of mind, and the events around them, and then share this record with their community. Books are traditionally used for documentation of changes both inside and outside of the self. I explore the intersections between quilting, bookbinding, and their shared ability to serve as archives of personhood. These quilts were made sequentially over four months and are bound chronologically. This object functions as a tracker of time and of my self. In reflecting on this book’s  pages, I was able to uncover aspects and changes in my self that I was not aware of during the quilting process. This book is not only a documentation of my self but also is an object that ascends my self. Thus, I present this book as a higher entity. As viewers interact with this object, I hope they enter a dialogue with this book in regards to time tracking, record keeping, and fluctuations of their selves that are both known and unknown.

Dara Etienne is a multidisciplinary visual artist and craftsperson from eastern Massachusetts. Their work revolves around identity, queerness, blackness and how these concepts can warp tradtional definitions of fine art and craft. They currently reside in Pittsburgh, PA and is a member of the artist collective hotbed

Solo Exhibitions

Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse / Artist in Residence Solo Exhibition
Exhibited December 2023 - February 2024, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, Pittsburgh PA

Group Exhibitions

Routes / Radiant Hall  
Exhibiting June - July 2024, Tissue Farm, Confluence, PA


The Future is Black / Time & Tithes
Exhibiting June - July 2024, Artist Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA


Ketchup City Creative/ [a]Mending Culture
Exhibited July 2023, Ketchup City Creative, Pittsburgh, PA


Senior Seminar Exhibition / Searching for Sticky Voids
Exhibited May 2022 - August 2022, Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), Williamstown, MA


Berkshire Art Association (BAA)/ Fellowship Show
Exhibited April 2022, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, MA