In The Grandfather Project, the fiber installation uses poetry that my late grandfather wrote about his experiences in the Great Depression, WWII and his career as a state trooper. I also use photos, both personal and historical. The piece looks like laundry drying, playing on the idiom of "Don't air your dirty laundry." I am revealing secrets, secrets about my grandfather and about myself, secrets that I have ambiguous feelings about.
I am interested in exploring the body through fabric. I create skin bruises and scars and use the colors of blood as a way of exploring how memories can leave traces, how experiences can penetrate.
I cannot fully understand my grandfather’s experiences. In stitching the pieces together and by obstructing his poetry with images from my imagination and popular culture, I want to convey the difficulty of understanding different generations. What are the things that get in the way when we construct the past from other's recollections?
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