Installation
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods
“There are places that are both hollowed and hallowed all in one. They have wounded us, but we must return to them if we want to try to loose their tight hold on us. The places watch as we lose our way, as we are sent away, as we run away; they wait in stillness for us to find our way back.”
Thin Places by Kerri ní Dochartaigh
Growing up in the rural northeast in the town of Woodbury, Connecticut, named in recognition of its function as a dwelling place in the woods, it is unsurprising that the forested landscape became an integral part of my being. I am drawn to the solitude that the woods provide and the energy that exists within its bounds: the burbling streams, the haunting whirr of the wind, the occasional soft step of a distant animal, or the quick zip of an insect.
The woods also bore witness to the onslaught of violence I endured throughout childhood while simultaneously providing refuge. During especially tumultuous moments, honing in on the bull frogs croaking outside my window or the shuffling of tree branches allowed for emotional grounding. For this reason, comfort and place are intertwined.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods begs the question, what does the land remember?
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Witness to a Dwelling in the Woods, beeswax soil logs, sounds and soil sourced from locations of placed importance throughout the Pomperaug River Valley in Connecticut, vintage handkerchiefs imbued with forest and preserved in beeswax, dimensions variable, 2024.
Laundry
Writing a letter each day to my late Grandmother, Laundry mimics the burden of time passing during the grieving process. After death questions that have gone unasked and unanswered sit lingering. The sentiments that were never fully communicated and memories that become impossible to grasp remain. Loss and grief are unavoidable but through my daily act of writing to my grandmother I seek to hold onto the tendrils of our relationship. Laundry is my own attempt to record time through the lens of a lost relationship. Can a relationship continue after the other half is lost? The components that mainly comprise the deepest relationships are mundane activities, laundry being one that I shared with my Grandmother. Now that she is gone, I continue to hang laundry alongside her spirit.
Laundry, paper, fabric, beeswax, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2024.
Laundry, paper, fabric, beeswax, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2024.
Laundry, paper, fabric, beeswax, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2024.
Laundry, paper, fabric, beeswax, mixed media, dimensions variable, 2024.