(Annealing) Strata of Memories

This is the first piece in my current series. I started making this piece back in April after I read the book The Geography of Loss by Patti Digh. This book resonated with me so much because it explores grief and loss through the eyes of an artist. Having experienced the death of my dad on March 10, 2014, I was searching for ways to express my profound grief and sadness. I decided to navigate my grief through the maps that Digh explains in her book. She writes “we are broken open by some of our human experiences”.

For this map, my own life experiences are depicted through strata or layers.  While some of our experiences break us apart and touch us in our core, our lives become richer when the broken pieces are put back together. With this in mind, Digh writes about kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold. Instead of throwing the broken plate or cup away, the broken pieces are rejoined through annealing. Thus the plate becomes more beautiful and stronger.

(Annealing) Strata of Memories is a map of the events in my life that have rocked me to my core with the most recent of these being the 200+ day hospitalization and subsequent death of my dad. He is the shape enveloped in white on the right side of my map. His form transcends each of the layers.

Gauze is layered behind his shape to represent how intertwined we all are as humans, as parent and child. Gauze was used throughout his wound care so it is a literal reference as well. There are seven small holes cut into the paper each representing one month of his hospitalization. Again, I have layered gauze behind these shapes.

This piece along with two others from this series will be on display in the exhibit Creative Tensions at the Perkins Center for the Arts from October 5 through December 7, 2014.