BFA Exit Show

Of hope & Creatures: An Allegory

Throughout my lifetime, stories have fed my imagination, provided refuge from reality, and invoked a wide array of emotions. At age four, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck by Beatrix Potter was the first book to make such an impression. Jemima, a simple farm duck, wishes to raise her own clutch of eggs and sets out on her own to do so. Sadly, despite her efforts, two rambunctious puppies gobble up Jemima’s entire clutch. At that point in my life, I had never felt such sadness and an irrevocable sense of loss as I felt when those eggs were eaten.

What I felt then is akin to what I have felt as an adult when learning of a loved one’s illness or death: shock, denial, panic. I desperately wish I could rewrite those moments, to erase the pain, repair the destruction, reverse death. Yet, I am unable do this.

However, through my sculpture I have the ability to construct the narratives of my choosing. These animals, though rooted in the pages of my mind, enter into our world to offer stories of hope. The predator and prey dynamic dissolves into roles that explore familial, geriatric, maternal, philial, and romantic relationships. These emotional connections always bloom brightest because of the voids they fill, of the tears once shed.

Not every story will be filled with happy chapters or have ideal endings, but it’s the sincere moments in which we care for and nurture one another that will keep our narrative moving through whatever darkness lies ahead.