ENTANGLED
collage and textile installation, Sonoma Academy Art Gallery, 2022
digital photo collage, textile photo collage wall pieces, thread installations
My father passed away earlier this year after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. The cruelty of this disease and the process of watching the decay of a brilliant mind was devastating.
As always , I used my art practice to process the grief and pain we all experienced Using my photography and my family archives, I collaged disparate memories into unified pieces to explore the notion of jumbled and chaotic memory. I stepped into my father's shoes.
Using both digital photographic prints and photography printed on fabric, I attempted to step into my father's shoes to experience the swirling, confusing pile of mismatched memories and thoughts this disease is best know for. The collaged imagery and its' installation reflects the frightening and confusing state of mind he lived with; fractured and fluid memories, confusion and agitation, humor, beauty, and sadness.
Entangled is a combination of my sewn collaged photographs, and 5 oversized constructed textile works installed with connective webbing(thread). The 5 textile clothing works represent each person in my family of origin. Each piece of clothing represents my childhood memory most directly associated with that person, including myself. These pieces are connected by red thread to the collaged photographs as they are caught in the tangled, chaotic stew of memory, family, and experience. The connective tissue of the red thread references brain neurons, as well connection and strength.
