The Wildcrafting Our Queerness Project

Mo Kessler

Mo Kessler is a sculptor, illustrator, fiber artist, and painter from Kentucky, currently working out of Baltimore. Working in a variety of mediums ranging from yarn, steel, chalk, ink, sound, and installation spaces, Mo Kessler works to highlight the dignity and importance of the fiber art traditions of Appalachia, which are often derided for their associations with women and the elderly. At the same time, Kessler uses their art to illustrate complex ecological and political histories in Kentucky, such as the 2000 flooding of Inez, Kentucky, brought about by corporate and governmental negligence. Other pieces explore the role of surveillance capitalism in stifling leftist and queer organizing throughout the region. In every piece, Kessler works diligently and personally with their materials, crafting art objects and installations which reflect their subjective relationships to the region, its histories, and their own identity. Through their work, Kessler carves out a new landscape in thinking about queerness, the environment, and political history in Kentucky and the rest of the mountains. 

Mo Kessler also the facilitator of Shelter in Place, a digital art residency focusing on the intersections of art and activism. More information is available on the residency website. 

More of Mo Kessler's art is visible on their personal website. 

Click the title of each piece to view the full image and listen, when available, to an audio recording of Mo Kessler describing their inspiration and process behind the work of art. 

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