Meet Mazerick Betko
Sumac Cottage is introducing you to artists featured in our first group exhibition, Nests. Enjoy brief interviews with the artists involved in the group show and learn more about their processes and inspirations. Today we have Birmingham-based artist Mazerick Betko.
What is your name and where is your home?
My name is Mazerick Betko. I’ve struggled for a long time with the question of home - my experiences with travel and relocation throughout my life have prevented me from identifying with places. It's encouraged me to find a home in my body since it's where I am everywhere I go and it's where I experience everything, literally, in my tissues. Recently I've been living in an old apartment in Birmingham near some parks. It's on the second floor and there is a tree surrounding it on two sides. I can hear the cicadas like they're inside the room with me, and there are two hawks living there right now. When they're not around the squirrels come right up to the window and squeal. This place feels more like home to me than anywhere since I was a really young kid.
Describe your creative process.
My creative process is affectionate. Much of my time is occupied with feeling and interpreting. I often move between materials and feelings many times before a clear vision is formed. I like to tell my students that our bodies are transformers, stimulation and energy comes into us from our environments and it travels through our tissues before it is expressed through our movements, communications and behaviors. I am often transforming uncomfortable and inhibitive stimulation with my skills into dignity, affection, freedom and love. When I have a creative goal I approach the play workfully.
Describe your piece in the exhibition and its connection to the theme.
I have two pieces in the exhibition. “It is soft, it is strong, it is safe” is a hand embroidered, mixed media piece that I made in the first few days of recovery after my double mastectomy. I embroidered on the mattress facing from the bed I had been sleeping in over the previous year. Mattresses can hold so much joy and so much damage, beds can be places of refuge but can also feel like places of captivity. In this piece I was interpreting the profound joy and safety I had associated with this bed over a period of time in which my body has also become a safer and more familiar home. The text “my spirit is nested in the home of my body” is meant to frame the body as a home that is to be tended and made one’s own over time. It is also meant to describe the spirit as a precious and living thing to be protected, especially during times when there exist forces that seek to extinguish its vibrance.
“Valentine” is an open shadowbox and pedestal adorned with nesting doves. It showcases a handmade paper book with a love poem printed within its pages. The box can be perceived as a nest or a home for this personal text that addresses the recipient of the valentine. I feel that love poems are too revealing so I’ll omit some context but I had such a wonderful experience building the box as a home for this precious book object. I think in many ways the box represents the home I share with my partner and the emotional and spiritual container we are creating together as we get to know each other over time. The cast doves represent simultaneously the open freedom of flight and the comfort and commitment to protecting the preciousness of care and connection. In this piece love is a way of inspiring each other to live, freely and courageously.
What could you happily look at every day for the rest of your life?
The sky. Open mouth smiles. My loved ones as we age.
What is something you're hopeful about?
I am hopeful for our collectively growing emotional intelligence. I am hopeful for our collectively growing skills of caring for each other and defending each others humanity. I am hopeful for the freedom of the Palestinian people. I am hopeful for the liberation of lgbtq+ people from fear. I am hopeful for the future health of the planet. I am hopeful of love.