a reminder 

Stories about love screenprinted in graphite on the wall, cheesecloth, steel wire, red and pink salt, water

site-responsive piece 

Exhibition for the Pantone Color of the Year presented by X-Rite, curated by Heather Duffy 

UICA, Grand Rapids, MI 

2016 

Time and our interactions with others change us, and our efforts in loving and communicating our love may make us vulnerable, may seem futile, and may affirm our existences.  The text on the wall blends pieces of collected stories about love, researched phrases regarding love from philosophers and writers, and my own reflections on loving and empathy. The salt-dyed cheesecloth loops through the space, holding salt crystals or salt water, with some pieces dipping into a pool of red-salt water. I use red and pink salt for its color and its properties: salt is a traditional material for healing and preservation, and the red and pink of these particular salts are caused by iron, the same element that colors our blood and turns the dirt of my Southern home red.  Made of materials that will transform during the exhibition and made through research on loving, this work reminds us of the transitory nature of being, and that, despite our efforts to control or to keep that which we love, we cannot.

 for R.B.D. and T.B.Y.