Legacy


This body of work in handmade paper was produced during my 2019 Artist Residency at Dieu Donné. It draws from themes in Seamus Heaney’s poem, Bogland to explore ideas about cultural inheritanceHeaney's poem centers on the bog's natural ability to preserve matter and ruminates on our ties to the past; for me, a natural place from which to consider the enduring capacity of ancient narratives. In my treatment of the Pandora narrative her mythical vessel is inseparable from her physical form. Pandora's "box" (originally a large terra-cotta vessel) is replaced by eight books pigmented in a range of skin tones, the pulp manipulated to evoke the folds and wrinkles of skin.

 

Pandora's Box
2019
Handmade pigmented cotton and abaca paper, steel hinges
Approximately 80 x 50 inches
Pandora's Box (variations 1-4)
2019
Handmade pigmented cotton and abaca paper, steel hinges
Pandora's Box (variations 4-8)
2019
Handmade pigmented cotton and abaca paper, steel hinges
Little Liar, Pandora's Box with The Turkish Bath (Ingres, 1862)
2019
Handmade pigmented cotton paper embossed with custom-made 3D form, gold leaf
18 x 24

Pandora’s “box” is a mistranslation from the Greek word pithos, a terracotta vase-like container. In Little Liar, the mythical vessel is represented by a series of vases decorated with scenes from classical art. Each vase is topped with a priapic figure of Pinocchio, animating and making explicit the act of looking.

Little Liar, Pandora's Box with The Rape of Proserpina (Bernini, 1621)
2019
Handmade cotton paper embossed with custom-made 3D form, gold leaf
18 x 24 inches
Little Liar, Pandora's Box with The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (Rubens, 1618)
2019
Handmade cotton paper embossed with custom-made 3D form, gold leaf
18 x 24 inches