Living Room Monologue

This autobiographical sculpture series explores distinct childhood memories.  The work focuses specifically on the ages of  7 to 15 and the impact of those years into present day.  Combining hand crafted art forms with both raw and embellished found objects, I chose each component in this work to represent myself, people and items that have significantly impacted my life.  I create compositions to represent relationships and emotions while materials signify specific traits or actions.  Traumatic events give insignificant, everyday objects meaning and value.  I translate the objects that haunt my mind into a piece of my story through sculptural abstraction.

This particular piece was inspired by the details of how I learned of my father's death.  I came home from my relative's house and my mom asked me to come into our living room.  I sat on her lap in our orange rocker recliner.  She was rocking me and my face could see downstairs into our family room where a large photo of my parents was in clear sight.  She told me that my father wasn't coming home and I cried a silent cry, completely frozen.  Tears streamed down my face as my seven year old self understood,  but didn't know how to process the information.  

The yarn in this piece symbolizes the exaggerated release of emotions I experienced in that moment.  I wanted to portray the paralyzing, overwhelming grief that flowed from my body as my mother talked and I listened.  

Materials: Yarn and wood
Size: 72" x 38" x 4"
Created in 2020.