Fanny Osorio

Architecture and Peace & Justice Studies major

I am a first-generation Mexican immigrant from New York City and a 3D architectural sculptor. My work touches on themes of immigration, urbanism, and transnationalism while identifying intersections between disciplines and emerging societal shifts.

Similar to how architecture and buildings work to construct the urban fabric, my work is driven by the idea of multiplicity and modules working together to derive a greater body of work. This modular approach reflects the interconnectedness of structures, systems, and communities. To express this, I work across a range of materials, from industrial substances like cement and clay to traditional craft materials such as reed, textiles, and woven fibers. By engaging with both modern construction methods and craft, I investigate the tensions between permanence and impermanence, mass production and handwork, structure and fluidity.

I do this with the goal of challenging perceptions of structural forms, inviting audiences to reconsider both materiality and meaning. Objects that appear solid and industrial may have been derived from woven materials or traditional craft - disrupting expectations and prompting reflection on the complexities of issues that surround us. As I seek to challenge the physical materials that I use, I seek to challenge the ways we think about contemporary conflicts such as immigration, displacement, and shelter and its role in urban spaces.

Fraying Shelter: Comfort Woven in Precarity

Rockite cement, textiles

Jewett Gallery

Spatializing Sanctuary: Mapping the Politics of Welcome

wood, acrylic, plastic sheets, LED lighting

Jewett Hallway Galleries

Whether in the woven fibers of bamboo strips, the aggregation of Rockite casted structures, or the urban landscapes that shape our experiences of sanctuary, I examine how individual elements come together to form larger modular networks.

Recently, my focus has turned to migrant shelters in sanctuary cities like New York, where an influx of immigrants has prompted cities to rely on makeshift accommodations such as repurposed hotels and recreation centers. These stopgap solutions have become pivotal areas for public debate, bringing forth anti-immigrant rhetoric as well as calls for more migrant support.

Themes of precarity, displacement, and hospitality drive my work. Through Rockite cast forms derived from woven textiles, I explore the unstable yet life-sustaining nature of shelter. It has the ability to be both support and warmth like the fabrics of clothing, but also indicative of displacement and fraying infrastructure. I extend this exploration to the urban scale by mapping and analyzing migrant shelter sites in Times Square, where hotels have become contested spaces of refuge and hospitality. By visualizing these spaces, I interrogate the role of shelter in the city and push for a rethinking of its limitations. I call for more permanent solutions while prompting reflection on who is afforded belonging and urban citizenship.

Interwoven

Rockite cement

Jewett Sculpture Court

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