About Valleri Rami
Valleri was born in Mumbai, India and grew up in Grand Forks, ND. She graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN with a B.A. in Psychology in 2017. She received a post-Baccalaureate certificate in ceramics at UMass Dartmouth prior to the MFA program and was a recipient of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Multicultural Fellowship in 2019.
Statement
My abstract sculptures are oddly familiar but strangely unique. The forms reverberate self-assuredness and privacy by way of rich interiors that have confidence in and of itself. The pieces I create are self-sufficient worlds which become metaphors for ambiguous spaces. I aim to illustrate personal psychology, identity, and culture in a visually abstract but physically concrete way. The body of work spans several different states of being- some are precarious, some are more sure-footed, some more open, while others more closed off. My content is navigational experience of minority identities and the failure of belonging in and subscribing to capitalistic, colonialist, and heteronormative culture.