“Flight (Drag, Thrust, Lift) #1” and “Flight (Drag, Thrust, Lift) #2” (2020) (Mixed Media: photographs (mine, mostly from NYC), feathers, LP covers, maps).
This is an homage to things that give us hope, flight, and lift when you feel weighed down. this is comprised of beautiful things I saw and photographed, books and women authors I love on strength, resiliency, and empowerment, maps of the place I love the best, LP covers, and feathers. I had a lot to weigh me down in the past two years, but beauty, places I love, laughter, light, and dear friends helps my wings not touch the ground. xoxo
“The Miracle is Letting Go” (2020) (Mixed Media - LP covers, photographs, my shadow, petals, barbed wire barbs).
I read an article recently about a monk serving in a hospital during the Covid crisis. It was a beautiful article and he said “people are praying for a miracle; the miracle is to let go”. The Buddha says that suffering is caused by both grasping (to cling to the good things that we don’t want to end) and pushing away (to turn away from the things that are painful that are too difficult to be present with). To be awake and to, therefore, cease suffering means letting go by being present to what is—whatever it is, joy, pain, anger, loneliness, laughter, tears, etc.. What is it like to let go of things that are painful AND things that are joyful? Sometimes, we catch a glimmer of being fully present and free. truly, letting go is a miracle.
I made this piece for my dad…it was agony to know he was suffering, and painful to let him go, but I feel relieved to know he’s free and floating far above his suffering.
“Salvage” (2020) (Mixed Media photographs, acrylic paint, LP covers, tarot cards)
this is an homage to what can be salvaged and rebuilt. the background are close-ups of the mattress coils from the debris after my mom’s house burned down. in the middle of that destruction, the coils looked so beautiful and striking. the woman is comprised of quotes from amazing women, apologizing to, praising, and healing their bodies.
“The Accretion of Loneliness” (2020) (Mixed Media: LP covers, photographs (mine), gold leaf, tarot cards, ashes)
Loneliness accretes. We start life with a tender, open heart and we develop layers of armor in response to wounds. As armor grows, so does our isolation. I treasure aloneness and solitude, but loneliness is a different state, imbued with regret and grief and isolation….can we remember our tender, fiery hearts? or will we keep the world at bay to protect ourselves? how much loneliness will accrete in our lifetimes?
“The Very Fabric” (2020) (Mixed Media - burlap, LP covers, rice paper).
Woven in from the very beginning of our nation, our very fabric—white supremacy and systemic racism. Can we keep pushing to make real change? to undo what was woven and become what the words ascribed to America so beautifully promise? As the great James Baldwin wrote, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
“Nymphalis antiopa (Mourning Cloak) (for 2020)” (2020) (mixed media - LP covers, court and spark, rupi Kaur, Seamus Heaney, Adrienne rich, photos, obituaries)
2020 was laden with grief and heaviness. we carry the scars of that year forever, hoping we learn to love and care for our planet and all with whom we share it. we carry 2020 with us forever, moving towards the work that will restore light and hope for all of us.