Pincushion IV: Polka dot, 2020

Through sculpture, textiles and drawing, Puglisi transforms and recontextualizes objects associated with women’s work, such as thimbles, sewing pins, lint rollers, dresses and pincushions, to try to understand it thoroughly and in a context different from its original. She creates scenarios between forms and materials that reflect parallel narratives to our lived experience while questioning the way arrangement and interaction can anthropomorphize them. Her forms allude to the human body, growths, plants, insects, sea creatures, candy, and microcosms. They become relics of relics themselves exploring themes of feminism, superstition, protection, sexuality, and intimacy. Puglisi arrives at her work by gazing at her matriarchal ancestry and performatively takes part in a long history of seamstresses and lacemakers. Researching underlying stories and histories of an object's strangeness, even objects that we consider common, piques her curiosity. Mixed Media: Velvet, thread, industrial felt, resin casted thimbles, dressmaker pins, insect pins, interfacing fabric, cymbal felt, acrylic paint, glass beads, mica, holographic prism film