This project began with a return to childhood fly fishing trips with my dad in the local mountains of North Carolina. I remember always being captivated by the lures: bright, delicate, feathery objects designed to seduce. Only years later did they strike me as queer-coded, flamboyant, and deeply performative.

This series of soft sculptures reimagines fly-fishing lures at a human scale using predominantly fiber-based processes. These large, flamboyant forms combine elements from fly-tying, drag culture, fashion and textile craft to examine coded expressions of masculinity and queerness in rural spaces.

Fly-fishing lures are meticulously crafted objects, traditionally tied by hand with feathers, hair, chenille, and fine thread. They are designed to mimic insects and appeal to fish, but much of their artistry is for the fishermen themselves since fish will often strike any breadcrumb or shiny candy wrapper.

These works explore how a hyper-masculine outdoor tradition holds space for flamboyant craft, aesthetic obsession, and personal expression — if only on the tiniest of scales.