Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Dandelion Dad, 2021. Courtesy of the artist.
Images and Writing by Phoebe Shuman-Goodier
The woods surrounding my childhood home conceal over thirty cars, a bus, a bread truck, and many sailboats. Inside, three stories are packed floor to ceiling. My dad’s hoarding disorder began after my parents’ divorce when I was eleven, and the junkyard grew with me.
Over the past decade, my series “Bad Dogs” has shifted from documenting the property to collaborating with my dad. The land holds a geological timeline of my family history and I search for artifacts of identity in the strata. Together, my dad and I construct and dismantle ephemeral sculptures from the debris, transforming obstacles into a shared artistic language. His enthusiasm to create art together is an act of love that I hold protectively.
Each piece reflects an intuitive process of balance and form, and creates a non-judgmental space for us to work together. The duration of this project contrasts the transience of human time, marked by the deepening lines on our faces, with the enduring presence of the materials on the property. This practice has become a cathartic tool for reciprocity, celebrating our evolving relationship and the power of art to repair and heal. I share our story to honor my dad, our journey, and what we continue to build.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Lighthouse, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Fallen, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, School Picture, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Red, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Gentleman Farmer, 2014. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Orange, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe Shuman-Goodier, Pink, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
Phoebe is an interdisciplinary artist from Rhode Island. She holds a BFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design. Phoebe recently returned to academia to pursue an MFA at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is the 2023-2025 recipient of the Russell Lee Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Photography and the 2023-2025 William and Bettye Nowlin Endowed Presidential Fellow.
Much of Phoebe’s work emerges from her intimate relationships and connection to her childhood home-turned-junkyard. Phoebe approaches accumulation from the perspectives of art, hoarding disorder, and American consumerism. Her practice is a cathartic tool that she uses to navigate life. This involves serious play; transfiguring trash, observing breakdowns of value, negotiating function, and making magic from the everyday. Phoebe believes in the power of collaborative art making to demonstrate alternatives and create new paths that challenge the status quo. This can range from reconsidering responses to mental illness and repairing relationships to reclaiming agency within alienating systems.
