Artist Statement

Disunion (1865- 2015)

Miniature crinolines, pale and skeletal, levitate in glass domes, in stark contrast with the heaviness of tiny mourning dresses, whose jet-black opacity under glass throws back the viewers’ reflection. These bodiless objects not only allude to the intensely personal, but also speak to our collective past, when an enormously bloody war altered the social fabric of a nation. As the past bleeds into the present, how do we deal with loss? What are our rituals of mourning and healing? How do we move on? 150 years later, we must still ask ourselves how we move on, as individuals, Americans, and citizens of the world. With the seemingly never-ending cycle of backlash — one against the other — how do we heal and live in peace?