FSU Art MFA ’12 Heidi Haire Interviewed by Allison Kridle About Recent Shows at 621.

Heidi Haire has been performing her piece, Justifying Torture to a Friendship Bear, in places around Tallahassee. The 621 Gallery and The Annex in Railroad Square Art Park are the main places where she has performed Her work is inspired by things and people that surround her. Haire says:

“[I am inspired] by people in my life, the environment and the social norms and systems interest me,” Haire said, “I am most creative in urban environments where there are a lot of varying perspectives. I am very inspired by people, lots of people.”

She’s also been working with the idea of identity by molding people’s belly buttons. Haire says that a person can learn a lot about someone by just looking at their belly buttons. She likes to explore body parts that are not usually exhibited in galleries.

“My work is really concerned with identity and intimacy and I feel that belly buttons are a great representation of that. It’s another part of your body that is not really sexual, but is sexualized,” Haire said, “There is that level of intimacy that [my] work affords. When I talk to somebody and they show me their belly button, that’s a level of intimacy.”

To read more about her interview, see the following link here: http://www.fsunews.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/04/01/art-gallery-molds-belly-buttons-identity/70796166/