ARTIST STATEMENT

​Vibo is entranced by wordsmithing and embraces intuitive design by using accessible materials like rubber stamps, crayons, and offset printing to maintain a low-fidelity spirit with process being the mana. Vibo’s creative practice spans several avant-garde mediums, characterized by recurring themes of memory and ritual: You can purchase her many DADA pieces or listen to her lecture series available as part of a 2-Day conference with nine creators invited to Rural Gothic 2: Women in Folk Horror (The Folklore Podcast, 2020). 

Cut-Ups and Collaborations

I want my writing imbued with irony, humor, absurdity, and the macabre. My visual poetry creeps within the fringes where folk and gothic horror intersects with science, religion, history, and cultural studies. I experiment beyond ancient warrior tropes to create multifaceted antiwar antiheroine lore. I'm interested in our grotesque stories like those told by George Orson Welles, John Frame, William Blake, Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Ray Bradbury, Aubrey Beardsley, Guillermo del Toro, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Writers should engage dialogues from as many perspectives as possible. I am constantly working to share visionary poetry like those by great storytellers, such as Franz Kafka, David Lynch, Prince and David Bowie."

THE LEGACY OF CONFLICT

Edwin Starr's lyrics on war are an educational tool for those ignorant about conflict. I used the lessons learned during war to [re]teach our complex military and cultural history. For a time, I worked as a National Park Service Park Ranger at Petersburg National Battlefield. Lesson 1: The Civil War wasn't civilized. My Guided Ranger Talks at the Eastern Front, City Point, Five Forks, and Poplar Grove National Cemetery showed the correlations between ancient warfighting and modern warfare. As experienced during the American Civil War, our Anthropocene Era also has outliers to perceived norms. Lesson 2: Scapegoat fodder. Before, during, and after our Civil War, exist traces of folkloric elements in all our war stories. My research into an archaeological item uncovered at a Civil War site is such an example. This story of Virginia's past is a tiny piece of the superstitions which still permeate within our armed service branches. I want to illuminate stories that shift the narrative to engage all lore elements. In my art, I want to dig into the ways conflict uncovers beliefs in the otherworldly. This is accomplished through work studying the outcast. The archetype of the maiden, mother, crone is nothing new, however, some in academia discuss the addition of a Queen archetype and others delve deeper into the role of various tropes overall. In my 2010 Capstone Project (see About) I discuss the Queen's role. There is much more to be [re]discovered through [re]search. The Top Lesson: war wounds vs. war wombs and the origin of conflict. War should only be utilized as a last resort to end tyranny. We need to [re]imagine worldviews and [re]discuss ethics. In very few scenarios does a civilization which works towards its own extinction find a chance to be [re]born. There are many parables discussing the pitfalls of capitalism... how we cannot eat money. Yet, here the world finds itself inside a cesspool where those in the 1% have for-profit detention centers to enslave adults and control human trafficking networks to cause unspeakable harm to the most vulnerable in society. It is said that fire isn't always destructive. It can be used to create new landscapes and build new worlds (think of the folklore of Pele). Through the fragmented pieces of ash and ruin, we can piece together a new era which [re]imagines ethical business models, clean energy alternatives and [re]builds communities using our lessons in arts and science. We can seize the moment and harness change, but it will take the combined effort of WE THE 99%.

LILITH IN THE ASHES

Within all human history, archaeological records include bits of fragmented tablets, papyrus, jewelry, bones, scrolls, and pottery. Fragments are a metaphor. We piece together these frayed bits to quilt together ore. The story of us. Fragmentation includes a physical tear:
'In Egyptian myth, Osiris is cut into pieces by his evil brother Set. Thereafter Osiris becomes immortal when his sister/spouse, Isis, does the work of finding the pieces and re-membering him. Repeated assaults on our sense of self cut us into pieces. We live in pieces for a while and then, through our feminine powers of searching and sewing, we are recollected and find our way to wholeness. The ancient shamans [who] initiated men by ritual dismemberment As with Christ, Dionysus, Osiris—and us—fragmentation is often a necessary phase in the transition from humiliation and abuse to self-assurance and compassionate love. Wounded heroes redeem others only because they themselves have experienced both fragmentation and restoration. There is a path to love among the ruins'
(Richo, 2002).
In this way, I tear paper or fabrics and burn the edges as a physical redaction to mimic how platforms moderate and squelch free speech. I jigsaw the paper into a visual poem. By leaving pieces behind, I survive digital erasure to become an un-deletable Lilith ghost. I rub ash all over the artwork—blending the soot with my breath, perspiration, and fingerprints. My very DNA is part of the art. I am the vessel which holds the heart of which art dwells. I AM art. I AM fragments. I AM ash. I AM myth. I AM whole. I am lore. I AM. 

ARTISTIC INFLUENCES

I am heavily influenced by evolutionary and anthropological studies and especially artifacts celebrating the womb, the cave, animism, the spiral, chevrons, concentric circle, and double spiral, elements, labyrinths, the cult of the dead, and the double barrel fibula located throughout time and space (creators using symbolical art and rituals studying the interconnectedness of life). Like Sjoo, I believe art is and personal artistic expressions are part of the whole. I draw inspiration from the following artists: Derek Beaulieu, Gregory Betts, Monica Sjoo, Hilma af Klint, Remedios Varo, Niki De Saint Phalle, Frida Khalo, Mary Leonora Carrington, Bridget Bate Tichenor, Dorothea Tanning, Georgia O'Keefe, Mira Maodus, Yayoi Kusama. Irma Haselberger, Gertrude Abercrombie. Sylvia Fein, and Shona Heath, Joyce Mansour, Joyce Mansour, Marta Magdalena Abakanowicz-Kosmowska, Natalia Goncharova, Agnes Martin, Olga Vladimirovna Rozanova, Agnes Pelton, Madge Gill, Agatha Wojciechowsky, Emma Kunz, Valentine Penrose, Laurie Anderson, Lynne Sachs, Astra Papachristodoulou, Susie Campbell, Amanda Earl, Kate Siklosi, Vic Shirley, Sasha Akhtar, Monica Ong, Kimberly Campanello, Molly McGuire, Tanith Hicks, Jane Barnett, Vikki Yeats, Michele Lynch, A.V. Hughston, Mila Zemliakova, Vilde Bjerke Torset, Anna Malina, bpNichol (list ongoing)."

THERAPEUTIC ART

Art is an empowering path to healthy conflict resolution. Writing and art are therapeutic forms of processing the world in which we live. Art is in the word Heart. That's not a coincidence. It is in my nature to create art which encourages local, state, national, and global representatives to help build safe institutions to learn, work, and sustain peaceful ways of life. I ardently believe we have challenges to tackle within all societal levels. We can shape the world we want by using art as an empowering tool for peaceful protest, dissent, teaching, and learning.

REGARDING NEO GILEAD

As an artist, I take on many projects for the love of art. When I am paid for speaking events, a portion is donated back into nonprofits. When my writing is published, it is generally with indie publishers and projects I care about. Many people in the education field will explain the importance of sharing work despite monetary obstacles. I support NPOs and VSOs (and some GSOs) with interests in sharing authentic voices. It is also important to create a sense of community, so I try my best to align my project with groups who do not promote destructive rhetoric (what happened to Salmar Rushdie is inexcusable). I believe art should challenge society to tackle the dangers facing our world. The biggest obstacles facing us in this AI era is the digital erasure happening on a massive scale. We must have the courage to create art which speaks about intersectionality and works to ensure dystopian landscapes are merely works of fiction. We do not meet our challenges by banning and burning books. Squelching free speech isn't the answer."

BE UNBURNABLE

GOLEM OR FRANKENSTEIN

While the idea of Golem traces back to the 12th century, I am speaking of a more contemporary creature. This modern iteration of the Golem myth is of an artificial being that is not inherently evil, but a reflection of its creator's intent and command.  I'm not fighting automation, robots, or artificial tech, but rather the power structures that use the machine as a tool of erasure. This feminesto (my entire website) speaks mostly to the trillion dollar systems that prioritize profit over the human "fleshy bits". In my 'Human Challenges in the Robotics Age' course shell, the focus is on how we maintain a moral compass when powerful interests control the codes of our lives. Current U.S. law states that only humans can own copyrights, yet the system often allows corporations to use Golem to diminish the livelihoods of human creators. My one and only blockchain piece acts as a decentralized governance tool—a way for me to assert a "safe harbor" for my voice when traditional legal orders fail to keep up with technological "annihilation".  By treating robots as part of the larger "human" story, I hope to ensure my First Amendment protest piece remains focused on the human right to meaningful expression—regardless of whether the medium is analog ash or a digital ledger. What remains of the ghost in the machine is the creature itself. This quartering of state-sponsored mass surveillance is a type of home invasion which robs us of our Third Amendment rights. When the monster blurs the lines of the billionaires and institutions (the "rabbis" of tech) are legally and ethically responsible for the "war" their creations cause.

DISCLAIMER: Images, art, and views do not necessarily reflect the position of this artist. Likewise, the views, opinions, or perspectives shared on this website are solely those of the artist and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of any person, organization, employer, or affiliated group. Views and content expressed on the personal website/blog are for entertainment purposes only. If you would like to be removed from this website, please contact web creator at [email protected]. The aforementioned artist(s) collaborates with Maggs Vibo either directly or through anthologies, workshops, or events. Please support their work and click the photos to visit their websites for additional materials. *If the links do not work, please find these individuals online or support their projects. NOTE: If you've worked with Vibo and would like to have your website linked, please do not hesitate to send a message with a photo for inclusion. If any information listed has changed, please provide details for edits.

Studying active volcanos and Hawaiian myths, legends, and lore in Hawaii, 2016