Spokane, Washington artist Trista Merritt engages object making alongside a sculptural practice in the creation of installations and bodily forms. Evoking an effect of uncanny intimacy between herself and her audience. Graduating with a BFA from Eastern Washington University in 2026 she works to carry the spirit of intellectual collaboration on throughout her practice. Emphasizing expansion through community as it nurtures and informs conceptual engagements of queer femme identities and experiences. Through her work, the body becomes a site of feminine contemplation, using hair as material as it relates to themes of memory, relationships, and systematic matrices. Merritt’s work has been featured within the Secrist Gallery in Cheney, Washington with an upcoming thesis exhibition alongside her cohort at the Eastern Washington University Gallery of Art.