The back panel of this piece was the first drawing I made with the patterns I found from my box of memorabilia that has traveled with me from home to home. I was in a frame of mind of remembering my childhood home, and the patterns reminded me of my Mom and her upholstery business she started. She worked in the basement, but when furniture pieces were too large, she would work in my bedroom. I would have to wear shoes all the time so as to not step on tacks or staples that tended to bounce around the carpet. The furniture so large that it was hard to move around my room. But some days my Mom would be working away as I fell asleep in my four poster bed, the bed she was so proud of finding for me in a garage sale. In that house, we had a tree in the front yard that was massive, and was always a concern during big storms, that it would fall on the house. But we loved that tree. Beautiful and ominous at the same time. The second panel consists of my four poster bed, and birds flying. The place where dreams lie. There are eyes on the bed, always watchful. The top panel is a figure that I have tried to de-sexualize by folding up the breasts, to try to abolish the male gaze on a female figure that speaks of memory, not meant to be sexualized. This piece speaks to memories attempting to be found as an adult trying to make sense of the convoluted past. The opening of the chest allows for the memories to be seen.
This piece is activated by a sensor. The act of an individual activating the piece is significant. Memories are not concrete, and sometimes they are tripped by someone else, even a complete stranger. I wanted the audience to feel a sense of participation, by just the act of doing their own actions. They may strategically approach the piece, or they may be caught off guard at its activation. Either way works. The movements themselves speak to the notion that memory is fleeting, not whole. They move and are hard to see. They turn on and off by themselves sometimes.
This piece also marks the first collaboration between me and my husband. I have been lucky enough to have a partner who has the capabilities to create mechanisms for my ideas. His mechanical engineering of this piece and his design of it were imperative to the fully conceived outcome of the piece. My gratitude and admiration for his abilities are immeasurable.