In this series of prints, I explore my relationship with my grandparents after their passings. I replicate memories that were never mine through the CMYK screen printing process, commenting on the attachment and detachment of a memory from an individual. I assembled these family photos with hand-drawn floral imagery all native to my home state of Oklahoma, ghostly cutouts, and embroidered elements, as an attempt to make tangible the concepts of grief and memory.
An homage to family photo collections, this work is an exploration of who my grandmother was. A woman I only know from stories, I constructed this “portrait” through the imagery of what I do know. She loved Dolly Parton, she always cheated at Password, she kept the newspaper from Robert Kennedy’s assassination, she worked at the State Fair, and she loved my grandfather. The centerpiece is an image of her, and a mirror. The reflection brings to mind that in a lot of ways, I am similar to her, and viewers may wonder what stories will be remembered about them one day.
There is an old belief that when you see a cardinal in the wild, they are a loved one visiting you from the grave. Within each of these cardinal nests is a small portion of one family photo. The photo indiscernible and broken, just as the memory becomes over time. The parts of the photo are held in nests, which I use as symbols of grief, remembrance, and family.
As part of an exchange portfolio, each of these small bits of memory is separated from each other, yet all carried and protected in their nests, which typically house precious life.
Collecting antiques is a fascinating practice. A value is assigned to an object based on how old it is, and how many memories it holds, and how many lives it has touched. As an American society, we typically fear death, yet seek after what it leaves behind. These objects are special, and carry those relationships with their owners through endless lifetimes. Layered over a graveyard, these antique listings reflect the monetary value of their history and reflect on the value of memory, life, and grief.
An exploration of uncontrolled growth of disease and anxiety through a moldy room. Also an experiment in making screen printing fluid.
