Midwestern! Punk! Mom! art installation 2019
This show Midwestern! Punk! Mom!, was the last show I completed before the shut down from the COVID-19 pandemic that came in spring of 2020. I had no idea how important this show was to be, as the last time I would be able to gather with my artistic community. At the time of its conception it was the result of a personal need to reflect and share the overarching narrative of my life’s work. It was laid out chronologically in three phases, each corresponding to the three words in the show’s title. I spent months going through my archives, selecting art and objects including personal snap shots, diaries, toys and even garments.
The result were walls hung from floor to ceiling with a selection of my life’s accumulated artifacts and art. When hung together they wove one single story of inspiration from birth to midlife. To give the art and object context I wrote directly onto the wall in a confessional direct style in the negative space around the art and objects which gave the feeling of a diary in three dimensions. Gallery visitors “read” my life’s creative trajectory on the walls and I was able to see my own resilience and creativity with clarity. This clarity was the ultimate goal of the exhibit as well as an act of recentering my story as heroic rather than tragic. In doing so, I aligned my future work with this narrative to continue this story…
