Tenderly Crocheted Sculptures by Caitlin McCormack Contend with Existential Dread

Caitlin McCormack is known for her crocheted, skeletal animals and otherworldly plants that nod to a speculative future in which the earth has endured environmental catastrophe. Motifs of skeletal baby birds and mammals read as cautionary tales about the human relationship with nature today and how much more disconnected—and disastrous—it could become.

Through crochet, with which we often associate domestic comfort and even quaintness, the artist channels a nostalgic medium to peer more closely at what we ignore in the present. Bundles of stones and knick-knacks encased in lacy fibers are complemented by skeletal specimens and strange botanical sculptures.

a textile sculpture featuring a crocheted human skill with plants growing out of the eyes — “Never Let the Party Die”

A new body of work that goes on view this weekend in There You Will Find the Stone at Harman Projects. The show includes a nebulous, blue wall sculpture titled “Earth Before Eyeballs Existed,” containing niches for tiny bundles of found objects. Pairing a slightly unnerving hue and a collection of tenderly crocheted packets, McCormack illuminates a reverence for tiny overlooked or discarded items.

Many of the titles of the artist’s pieces express a sense of dread, tension, or excess. A series of bundles titled They Come Back But They’re Never the Same and sculptures like “Don’t Let the Party Die” hint at a human crisis of control. “You Picked the Wrong One,” with a nest of unsettling, skeletal baby birds, brims with foreboding.

McCormack’s recent work emerges also from her attempts to process loss and illness in her family, including her own medical diagnoses. “These experiences have catalyzed a reevaluation of deep-rooted existential positions, specifically those grounded in skepticism, atheism, and a lifetime of anxiety,” she says in a statement. These pieces “serve as manifestations of an evolving worldview shaped by grief, loss, and an obsessive search for meaning.”

There You Will Find the Stone runs from July 12 to August 2 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

a blue cloud-like compartmented wall sculpture with niches for tiny crocheted objects — “Earth Before Eyeballs Existed”

a detail of a blue cloud-like compartmented wall sculpture with niches for tiny crocheted objects — Detail of “Earth Before Eyeballs Existed”

a crocheted sculpture of a pair of lungs growing from an otherworldly plant — “Milkvetch, How Much More Can They Hold”

a crocheted textile sculpture with various objects inside of a netted outer sheath — “They Come Back But They’re Never the Same V”

a crocheted sculpture of skeletal baby bird heads with black strands coming out of their eyes, surrounded by a red nest — “You Picked the Wrong One”

a detail of crocheted sculpture of skeletal baby bird heads with black strands coming out of their eyes, surrounded by a red nest — Detail of “You Picked the Wrong One”

a detail of a textile sculpture featuring a crocheted human skill with plants growing out of the eyes — Detail of “Never Let the Party Die”

a crocheted sculpture of an unusual, hybrid plant inside of a glass dome — “I Came Here to Try to Have a Good Time”

a detail of crocheted flowers and citrus slices in a freestanding sculpture — Detail of “I Came Here to Try to Have a Good Time”

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