“Being an artist was not a choice. I fought it for a long time, changing majors many times in undergrad. I was called to be an artist, so I am,” says Flaherty, who works in all mediums and likes to throw technology into the mix. Traditional mediums, calligraphy, digital printing, clay and 3-D printing are all products of her creative practice. Generally, her work focuses on feminism, specifically maternal feminism, disability aesthetics, and diaspora. Working out of her studio in Pittsburgh, PA, Fran strives to maintain a balance between her art practice and personal/family life. A member of the Pittsburgh-based #notwhite Art Collective, Fran is one of 14 women artists that gather together to address the escalating events of discrimination in the U.S. The collective recently received a grant from the Carnegie International to develop their core mission and work, and will present their research findings at Keyword: International Symposium. “I am deeply invested in looking at one’s roots: history, ancestry, and experience with colonialism and imperialism, power, slavery and subjugation. As a deaf Filipina Chinese artist who currently resides in the United States, I am researching the effects of the Spanish Inquisition and the eradication of indigenous Filipino culture and customs,” explains Fran. The artist’s series of work entitled “Colonized Women,” comprised of silk paintings of indigenous women of the Philippines copied from 16th century colonial drawings documenting Spanish contact with the Islands, showed in the recent Art 511 Exhibition in Chelsea EMINENT DOMAIN. “I plan to continue to use these images to reclaim ownership of how my people were depicted for centuries, while negotiating that this act of colonization is also my inheritance,” says the artist in her own words. Meanwhile, she’s also using her background in CAD (3D modeling and printing) and traditional Filipino materials to create intersectional pieces, including a 3D model/print of a Tugbuk at Sakra – a device created for sexual enhancement eradicated by the Spanish colonists during the 15th century. Check out the #notwhite Art Collective in Keyword: International Symposium during the Carnegie International on Oct. 20th and at Carlow University on Oct 26th. Flaherty’s work is included this month in “Common Threads: Faith, Activism, and the Art of Healing” at the Community Engagement Library, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.
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