I work with death every day. I see the inextricability of life and death. I see how instantly life stops, the unfathomable light that goes out. I show acceptance of the physicality of bodies, and perception of what lives within. I am challenging, by the mere fact of my confidence. Assertive attitudes considered masculine are relabeled aggressive when exhibited by feminine. Pairing male skulls on female bodies makes them combative and confident. In this way, she taking the power for her own. Antlers are now crowns, or halos.
I have always been a collector of found objects, natural and man-made; I find preciousness in things left over. I am fascinated by what came before me--a fingerprint in four thousand year old pottery is as beguiling as a snail shell. Small tokens left by living creatures show me the beauty of life in the remains of death. Nature continues to captivate me with graceful curves of a skull or fractal patterns of a pinecone. These are not only tokens of a life gone; there is promise of renewal in a shed antler, or a maple seed.
I am not sugar and spice. I am warmth and power constrained to bone and blood. I am real. My body is lived in, and has carried me through the world and wounds and I’m not done. Not yet.
