Measuring Histories

For this project the group was tasked with creating an art piece or pieces that measured the history of a certain subject. I decided to create a piece based on my genealogy. My great grandmother on my mothers side was a prisoner of war to the Russians when she was a little girl. One day by some God sent miracle she was released, years later she met my great grandfather in America. Their daughter, my grandmother, had my mother and uncle when she was still a teenager. She was unable to take care of them, so my grandmother adopted them herself, and took on the rule of mother again.

I wanted to use the theme of metamorphosis to show the transformation from the things that happened, the things we were, and the things that we are becoming because of where we started. The plan was to create this cocoon like scroll that would unfold into the sequence of images depicting the metamorphosis. The first was the outline of a catipiller, representing the darkness my grandmother crawled out of. The cocoon, the transformation of her life and the daily choice she made to be hope in spite of all her pain. Then finally, the butterfly, the new life and beauty which came through her and was made even more beautiful because of what she had come from. After working out my concept I was given more leather, grabbed some thread and a needle and went to town.