Jana Purington

I work with text and textiles to explore themes of intimacy, identity, and hunger. Fabric, as something our skin knows almost every second, can be deeply comforting. It can be worn in until it remembers the shape of our bodies; it can be torn and it can be mended. This is true of relationships, both with others and with ourselves. I write to try to come to a better understanding of how I fit within my body and within my bonds to others, then translate the ideas into something physical, something I can wrap myself up in. 

In Separate, Related, I write through the ways in which my relationship with my twin sister has shifted and how my anorexia has impacted that shift. I worried for a long time that I swallowed the closeness between us. I couldn’t tell if the increased distance I felt from her grew from the natural separation and individuating processes all twins experience as they become adults, or if she was pulling away from my seemingly bottomless appetite. Through my essays and fiber pieces, I have re-remembered us, finding the words, the warp and the weft of our narrative, in order to trust the fabric of our twinship.