It Takes Two

Olivia Mae Sinclair analyzes the emotional implications of power and sex between female and male-identifying individuals. The form and shape of the books demonstrate the theme of deterioration through manipulation such as cutting, ripping, and fraying.

Techniques include are screen printing, sewing, and machine embroidery. The books have a raw and rough quality as they borrow the visual language from sketchbooks, journal entries and the zine community.

Her question remains: how do we read with our entire body? Sinclair takes inspiration from the Sloppy Craft movement. Sloppy Craft is defined as honouring the process of making the final piece.

Handwriting and sloppiness are not just artistic choices in Olivia Mae Sinclair's work, but tools to foster intimacy and confession. She wants her audience to be equally dazzled and disgusted by her books, a reaction that can only be elicited through direct engagement and touch. This interactive element, often in a public setting, is a key part of her Relational Aesthetics approach, ensuring the audience feels actively involved in the art.

About the Artist: Olivia Mae Sinclair is a textile-book artist. Her intuitive and trauma-based practice is guided by sloppy craft and 
imperfection. She is addicted to infatuation and Redbull. She is a maker of books, love and other grotesque things. She graduated from OCAD University's Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media, and Design program and earned her Bachelor's degree in Craft and Design at Sheridan College. Olivia is currently an Artist in Residence at Harbourfront Centre. Typically, books made from fabric are intended for children and infants. Olivia Mae Sinclair’s books, however, are made for lovers, survivors, artists, her, him, them and me.