The human condition is the driving motivation behind my work, it’s triumphs, failures, and banality are inexhaustible source material. Using community as a platform for creation, the work is a collaboration with the subjects – as models, fixers, craftsmen, historians, designers – the people who are being described are those who guide the visual narrative. Together, we make work.
Materials carry conceptual weight in each project – repurposed textiles and fabrics or discarded and found materials – specific to the demographic depicted. The work is often installed and exhibited within the community that inspired its creation, later being exhibited in traditional art venues.
The object is as significant as the process; the ability of art to function as a tool that can galvanize people and simultaneously act as a cultural artifact is paramount in my practice. Through working with diverse groups – erotic dancers, entire towns, sick agriculture workers, school children, refugees, etc. – the social function of the work seeks pluralism in its reach, journalism in its exploration, and anthropology in its integrity.
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Aubrey Roemer was born in Rochester, NY. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute; interning with NYC artists and galleries, and working as Americorps Scholar. She was a journalist for Art Observed, specializing in covering the NYC auction season. Post collegiately, she attended residencies in the USA, Europe, and Asia: at Vermont Studio Center, in England at 42 Acres, and at Kio-a-Thau Sugar Refinery Artist Village in Taiwan. In 2016, she participated in NYU Tisch’s The Season Comedia Del’Arte in Florence, Italy, as an Assistant Art Collaborator. Currently, she is working on a project with Wall Therapy in Rochester, NY, before attending Pratt Institute for her MFA.
Roemer received grants from Do Your Part & Paddlers For Humanity in 2016, World Connect in 2015, and ARTwerk in 2014. She has exhibited internationally and garnered press for her work. She has spoken at the Parrish Art Museum, in schools, and community centers about her international portrait projects. She is represented by artist Gavery Art and is an affiliate of Artshape Mammoth.
Roemer’s projects span Nicaragua, Indonesia, and Greece in collaboration with NGO’s: La Isla Network addressing the CKDnT epidemic, environmental initiatives as the Director of Art and Communications for Oceans Care, and with Desmos and Metadrasi working on refugee relief. Domestically, Roemer teamed up with New York Cares, Unicef, and the Rural and Migrant Ministry, bringing art and education to communities extending from NYC to the Hamptons.