Memento Mori: Reclaiming my story
In 2011, I underwent a hysterectomy to combat borderline ovarian cancer. The mutilation of my reproductive organs left profound physical and psychological scars on me. It has been a lengthy journey to process what happened to my body.
Hair, thread, glass beads.
Before surgical menopause my hair was thick, heavy, and unruly.
For seven years after my surgery, I carefully collected my fallen hair after washing it… It was a solemn weekly ritual in the shower.
Hair, wool, wood, glass.
Ova
The loss of fertility is the loss of youth, eros, and a part of the feminine identity.
Hand carved wood, sterling silver, handmade silver chain plated in 22k gold.
Epigenetics and Trauma/Autorretrato
sheep wool, hair, linen cloth, glass beads.
Reclaiming my story:
In search to find an explanation to my cancer diagnosis I looked into my family’s past.. My mother’s mother had cancer, my mother had cancer, and I had cancer.
My grandmother taught me how to knit. She was an alcoholic and an abusive mother. After she quit drinking she never talked about her addiction or her violence. Every year for as long as she lived, she made socks and gifted them to the family. Perhaps this is how she found redemption…
In this self-portrait I felted my grandmother’s wool from her knitted socks and my hair.
The linen spit cloth was handmade and gifted by a distant cousin to my first born child..
Epigenetics and Trauma/Autorretrato
sheep wool, hair, linen cloth, glass beads.
Reclaiming my story:
In search to find an explanation to my cancer diagnosis I looked into my family’s past.. My mother’s mother had cancer, my mother had cancer, and I had cancer.
My grandmother taught me how to knit. She was an alcoholic and an abusive mother. After she quit drinking she never talked about her addiction or her violence. Every year for as long as she lived, she made socks and gifted them to the family. Perhaps this is how she found redemption…
In this self-portrait I felted my grandmother’s wool from her knitted socks and my hair.
The linen spit cloth was handmade and gifted by a distant cousin to my first born child..
Life
“Domesticated chickens are an evolutionary success story, measuring success by the number of DNA copies, they are also among the most miserable creatures that ever lived”
Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens.
Bones saved from the chickens I cooked for my family.
Chicken bones, wax thread, rubies.