Nicole Rathburn, Sprout

Artistic Statement

“Standing in the Atlanta airport, my sister tries to gently brush a piece of hair away from my face. Without thinking, I violently shove her hand away. Shocked by my knee-jerk reaction to her affection, I have started to wonder if we are to be judged by our distance from other people instead of our proximity.

I work with the urge to encourage empathy; to put in physical form the feelings and sensation of what even the smallest moment of understanding between human beings can be. Not to cheapen them, but in the hope that a physical touch can resonate emotionally within the viewer and spread to the actions in their life, adding bit by bit to the world those moments that drive the human race forward.”