Meghan DeRoma (b. 1978, Chicago, IL, US,) is a visual artist from Los Angeles, CA, working in mixed media, installation, sculpture, and curation.
DeRoma received her BFA: Sculpture/Minor: Psychology, from Miami University, OH in 2000. In 2021, she returned to her art practice after years spent caught in capitalistic loops and raising two children. Considering this perspective, DeRoma keeps the inner journey as a foundational element of her work. Combining found materials and natural ephemera with fresh paint and pigmenting, DeRoma explores the relationship of the Self, and humans, to and with Nature, particularly as they meet in urban environments. Her deep interest in the nature of being is expressed through the meditative aspects of her patterned and process-driven work.
Weaving research in archetype, mythology and conversations with natural beings into her work, she provokes curiosity in our respective roots and our relationship with other-than-human sentient beings. She is the co-founder and curator of Dorado 806 Projects, and experimental artist-run project space in Santa Monica, CA.
Artist Statement
I am interested in human relationship with nature, ranging from that which is observed in self-reflection to passive, unconscious physical coexistence. From where we go lost as a species to where we can re-place ourselves in the greater web of all beings. My portal to this place is through my exploration of my relationship to the Self and to Nature, and my [our] inherent wildness.
My methodology involves piecing together many tiny parts, a metaphor for the human experience and the building of identity. I use found paper, gouache, acrylic, fabric, and other foraged natural materials. Through the process of deconstruction, redressing (painting patterns, sewing accoutrement) and reconstruction of these ephemera, archetypal symbols and themes of the intricacy and nuance of human relationship emerge—relation to Self, to others, to the societally implicit other-ness of nature, and the inherent wildness of mammalian being.
In each of these relationships there are fractals to be found, and patterns interrupted, but stepping back, they all converge in a picture of wholeness. I wants to see myself unfold, and in doing so, allow others to see themselves, and to be seen, especially as we necessarily find our way back towards a realization that we are nature and that we are a small bit of an ecosystem full of human and non-human beings.
I am currently focusing on work that explores and incorporates urban trees that have been cut down for human expansion or perceived need. In a city dominated by concrete and asphalt, I want people to remember that they are nature, and that they exist in an ecosystem dependant on other than human beings. In my ‘Ghost Trees’ series, I forage urban stumps and create burial gowns for them that act as visages of the trees that once stood, incorporating elements that reflect the other creatures that might have depended on the tree for existence. My work serves to feel familiar and comfortable, something of a conversation, and to also deepen understanding of the interconnectivity of all beings.
The materials I am using are often given to me or foraged from my own life and archives. To me, the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts, but the unique pieces that come together to form the whole are each important and lend meaning and texture to the final poetry of the piece.
