Schessa Garbut (USA / Belize)
Schessa Garbutt is a Belizean-American designer & textile artist from Los Angeles,CA. Their studio practice at Firebrand Creative House focuses on the intersections between the ecological and spiritual, the personal and political, the near future and ancient past. The Earth is one superorganism and humans are just one of its many organelles. Even as natural disasters and climate despair grow in tandem, modern life makes it easy to ignore this reality. Currently, Garbutt is creating ‘Eco-Spirituals’, a series of large-scale cyanotype quilts and ritual objects for biomes around the world and the humans that steward their eco-histories.
“My work is to help everyday people stay present with our changing environments so that we might better prepare for our collective future.” This re-memory work has taken many forms, including near-futurist writing, biological illustration, printmaking, and public arts workshops. They hold a B.A. in Design from University of Southern California.
Garbutt has exhibited at the Ford Foundation Gallery (New York), the California African American Museum (Los Angeles, CA), and others. They have given design & altar-building lectures internationally at DiaTipo São Paulo and Mariam Ibrahim Gallery (Ciudad de México). Clients and collaborators include California State Parks, The Nap Ministry, OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, and State of CA Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI).