Artist Bio

Andie Aylsworth is a London-based multidisciplinary installation artist. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Aylsworth learned a deep respect for nature from an early age as a result of her matrilineal kinship to the indigenous people of present-day Ecuador. Aylsworth is a recent graduate of Central Saint Martin’s College, London, where she was awarded the inagural ‘This Earth’ award presented by LVMH and Maison/0 in recognition for her practice’s committment to sustainability and traditional ecology. She has exhibited work internationally at institutions including Tate Collective, the National Gallery, London, and the Rubell Museum Miami.


Statement

Andie Aylsworth’s practice centers on the more-than-human, the varying relationships humans share with these nonhuman beings and what knowledge these beings hold for humanity. Creating a body of work based on the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of her Kichwan ancestors, Aylsworth shines a light on the detrimental perspective of western-centric environmentalism and its use of reductive binaries. These binaries focus solely on divisions of nature vs. culture, human vs. nonhuman or eurocentric vs. global viewpoints. Aylsworth evokes these dichotomies in her practice through her use of seemingly conflicting materials; pairing metal with natural fibers to convey an anthropocentric point of view, which is that of man above ‘nature’ or what is seen as ‘wild’ and uncontrolled. TEK teaches us that this is not the case we are nature. Our more-than-human kin have infinite wisdom to impart to us in how to live harmoniously with all nonhuman beings. Aylsworth utilizes lessons learned from indigenous ways of being to shift our focus from anthropocentrism towards cohabitation with our more-than-human kin, rather than setting up ideological opposition. By applying TEK customs to her practice, Aylsworth shows a way to an ideological approach that involves reciprocal care. Through combining practices of traditional natural dyeing and contemporary industrial welding, Aylsworth creates installations that respect and collaborate with the more-than-human kin present in the work. In doing so, she hopes to realize a ‘come-togetherness’ to break down the misconceived notions of western-centric environmentalism and instead move towards the cohesion that is achieved in indigenous knowledge – proving that humankind does not stand outside of nature but shares an innate inseparability from it.

In putting the teaching of plants at the forefront of practice and thought, humanity might be better equipped to face the overblown fears of a future while maintaining an unhelpful binary view of the environment vs. civilization.