This work was created in response to Luce
Irigaray's Elemental Passions. It contains symbolic ornamental forms, shadow and specific colors to explore transitions between childhood and motherhood and the varying roles I play as a woman. The full title of this one in particular is Crystal & Ink (wife-mother & man-child). The forms are derived from Irigaray's language describing the roles in a domestic relationship, where the wife also fills in as the nurturing mother figure to the husband and in this position she is like crystal. Irigaray describes the man, when needing consolation, as helpless and having blackened tears of ink. This sculpture symbolically captures the mobile position of the woman as tethered to the man, who is unmoored and blindly searching for protection.

This collection of work was created in response to a prompt given to the group I was showing with, from Janine Antoni. She wanted us to read Luce Irigary’s Elemental Passions, as well as the poem The Girl Made of Butter (from which her exhibition entitled The Girl Made of Butter was informed). The work I created in response was deeply informed by my personal relationship to being a daughter and a mother.

“Before You Go” is a symbolic interpretation of the eventual, looming, experience of your child leaving home. Shown here with Crystal & Ink in the background while installed at Southfirst Gallery in Brooklyn, NY in 2015.

This is the tail end of the long chain holding the cage-like form releasing the gem-like form. The crown represents the playfulness, imagination and innocence of early childhood.

This sculpture was difficult to photograph during the initial exhibition. So I am including multiple images. This work is representative of the evolving relationship, from and between, being a daughter and being a mother.