Nate Lewis, Clenched, 2017

Nate Lewis is a registered critical care nurse. He makes photographic portraits, prints them on heavyweight paper, and then uses self-invented tools resembling surgical instruments to make controlled tears in the paper. These marks are heavily influenced by anatomy, physiology, and disease pathology, knowledge stemming from Lewis’s medical background. While the marks are tedious and mindful in their consistency, Lewis combines various patterns in an intuitive way. The end result calls to mind traditions of textile fabrication and etching. The marks appear representative of human physical biology and also display a visceral understanding of the interconnectedness of bodily systems. Clenched, a depiction of two grasping hands, illustrates Lewis’s primary tools of healing and references the labor-intensive process of his two different practices. Clenched pays homage to people who work with their hands, and to the intimacy and healing that direct contact brings.

Rachael Carruthers
Student Committee Selection 2016–2017

More from the series “Tensions and Tapestries”: