Erica Mott is an installation/visual performance maker, and cultural organizer who, through a variety of body based sculptural forms (mask, costume, object), transforms discarded materials and disregarded spaces into sacred objects and sites. Using the tools of humor and surprise, Mott attempts to capture and heighten the magic and mystery of the mundane and invite communities to re-view and re-envision shared spaces and practices. The tension in each material or site is a palimpsest; a holder of historical knowledge written over by the various people and cultures engaged with it. Through performative objects and installations Mott hopes to offer layers of information shared through time, development, erosion, and transplantation.
The body is the first site of Mott's research. Placing it within new sites, materials, and social constructs, Mott investigates the bodies movement, capabilities of transformation, cultural knowledge and social perceptions. Starting with the private and personal, Mott navigates towards the public and the political. Her artwork aims to blur dividing points of categorization and boundaries of location thus promoting dialogue, debate, and connection amongst people of multiple and complex social, cultural, and political identities.
Mott believes in the power of collaborative endeavors and movements. She aims to dissolve public and private boundaries by taking work into public spaces and inviting the public into galleries. Often members of a community (whether they identify as artists or not) perform in the work (whether intentional or otherwise). An important component of Mott's work is interactive exchange whether this take place through artist and community discussions, workshops, or skill shares. Mott employs an aesthetic of re-purposing and re-envisioning landscape, material, and historical representation with community collaborators to encourage connectivity, shared resources, and the cultivation of creative change.
