Other People's Children
Trained as a graphic designer and illustrator, I used my artistic skills to represent the voices of others for over 20 years. For the past dozen years, I’ve made Figureless Garments expressing female roles and Domestic Feminism, with an emphasis on the experience of being a woman and a mother. I am fascinated by the essence of the Human presence that is left behind in inanimate objects, a worn slipper, a dress, a chair, a bed.
In my current evocative work I investigate how society values or devalues people they see as “other”. I tell the story of the powerless, vulnerable, and marginalized. I ask the viewer to examine their humanity through shared common items, memories, and personal experiences. I explore social isolation and suffering suggested by a head-print left behind in a pillow, the empty space under an abandoned baby blanket, a crib made of thorny branches, a play-pen lined with barbed wire.
Sticks, acorns, and Milagros weave metaphor into the sculptures bringing their own narrative to the piece, while paying homage to their previous incarnation. As well, these items represent the resourcefulness of refugees and the poor who often must build something out of nothing.