Charlie Reynolds is one of nine winners of the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award is designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.
“When I was 19, I enlisted in the United States Navy. The things I did in those four years is something that I have continually tried to grapple with through the use of alcohol, therapy, and eventually art. My perspective as a privileged citizen coming from a global superpower shifted as I began to visit foreign ports, realizing how other people felt about our country and our military. My previous ideas of “good guys‚ bad guys”, and justifiable wars began to feel very childish.
What I find both compelling and necessary is the examination of the military culture I so easily subscribed to through the dissection of the military artifacts and symbols I worshiped. Weaving allows me to meditate and immortalize these artifacts that I love saved from my time in the Navy. Each weaving takes about 5-6 hours, and I can really ponder every line or thread. Did I really read my contract before I signed it? Why did I save what I saved? Is it precious or was I just doing what I was told? As I contemplate the military’s current role in my life, these artifacts and symbols haunt me.
My interest in fiber is directly related to my struggle with gender identity. When I was a child, my GG and my grandma taught me how to crochet, knit, cook and other traditionally feminine pastimes. I hated these useful hobbies that would make me a better wife. I wanted to be rough, hard, and dirty. Masculine.
Now that I can live as a man and I’m comfortable with my masculinity, I find myself drawn to the softer mediums I neglected in the past. Maybe the only way to talk about hard topics is through soft fabrics. My life in the Navy was all steel, missiles, guns, and patriarchy. I think it makes sense then to dissect it through traditionally feminine craft.”