Theda Sandiford
Tangled In Time, 2024
Commerical fishing net recovered from Ha'Penny Beach St Croix USVI, crochet Boho Locs save from previous crochet hairstyles worn between 2019-2021 64 x 24 x 8 in
This artwork explores the unseen threads connecting past, present, and future, woven with memory, magic, and spiritual protection. Using a blue commercial fishing net that washed ashore after a hurricane and crocheted with gray locs, this sacred net bridges the realms of the living and the dead. The net carries ancestral memories, connecting us to voices lost to the Atlantic slave trade and honoring the water graves of those who perished. This object, a conduit, stretches beyond the physical world and transforms into renewal and release, reminding us that the souls of the departed endure in every knot and thread, shaping our collective consciousness.
Theda Sandiford
Blackity Black Blanket Library Ladders Installation, 2023
10 'x 5' Recycled commercial fishing net and black 4" zip tie blanket on antique library ladders. Shopping cart 96 x 24 x 16 in
I know you are tempted to touch...
Theda Sandiford
Off Duty, 2022
pray painted shopping cart seat woven with webbed polyurethane ribbons, recovered taxi sign, and a discarded teddy bear wrapped in yarn, paracord and bottlecap necklace. 32 x 10 x 19 in
Theda Sandiford
Bottlecap Pearls, 2021
Single use bottle caps strung on polyurethane ropes and blue and white rope strands draped and knotted onto an antique ladder. 120 x 28 x 16 in
In 2020 my artist residency with NOW Friends in Nairobi Kenya was cancelled due to Covid. I had spent 6 months preparing for this residency, learning Swahili, researching local artists, textiles, and beading techniques. When I learned that travel would not be possible, I decided to use the time I would have been in Kenya to clean, drill and string thousands of bottle caps into larger-than-life strings of pearls. Each string of pearls represents the passage of time during the pandemic.
Theda Sandiford
Beaded Braids: Double Dutch, 2023
Cider Six Packs and various single use bottle caps strung and knotted with blue and white polyurethane rope 55 x 72 x 8 in
Throwback to when I wore my hair in braids ladened down with pony beads
Theda Sandiford
Power Puff, Black Racing Stripe Baggage Cart, 2021
Bike reflectors, paracord, Fresh Direct bag yarn, doggie poop bags, plastic newspaper bags and plastic grocery bags woven on gold spray painted recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in
Joy is a form of resistance.
Theda Sandiford
Chutes and Ladders, 2022
Black metallic yarn, handmade eyelash yarn, black and brown cotton/rayon poly blend fabric, African printed fabric, vintage African fabric wrapped on recycled polyurethane spliced jungle gym rope netting. 79 x 24 x 72 in
Despite the growing commitment to racial equity, the day-to-day experiences of women of color are not improving. Women of color face similar types and frequencies of microaggressions as they did two years ago – and they remain far more likely than white women to face disrespectful and “othering” behavior.
Theda Sandiford
Lady Whistlesdown Baggage Cart, 2020
Silk, satin and mesh ribbon knotted on commercial fishing net on gold recovered shopping cart 44 x 29 x 48 in
The ribbon blanket was made on Xmas 2020 during two back to back viewing of Bridgerton
Theda Sandiford
I Can’t Breathe: Emotional Baggage Cart, 2021
CPAC Tubing, solar rope lights, gold 550 paracord, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in
We all carry emotional baggage Naturally; these manifests differently for each of us. Some of us push shopping carts of pain while some of us just have a backpack. I carry a lifetime of racial trauma.
Theda Sandiford
Blackty Black Blanket, 2020
10 'x 5' Recycled commercial fishing net and black 4" zip tie blanket on white leather chaise lounge chair. 120 x 60 x 36 in
Racial Gaslighting, hides in plain sight in everyday interactions. It subtly shifts dialog from a racist topic at hand onto me, the accuser – forcing me to question and re-assess my own response to racism, rather than the racism itself.
