Precious Scars Statement
Pigment print on Moab Moenkopi Unryu rice paper, embroidery thread, encaustic; 16" x 16"; Unique
Precious Scars
In order to cope with our current turbulent and violent times, I returned to a series of photographs taken in Kyoto, Japan while on a Zen Buddhist meditation trip. I needed to re-experience the solace and tranquility evoked by the spiritual aesthetics of this ancient city. During my visit, I was inspired by the practice of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is put back together with a metallic lacquer so that the damage is highlighted rather than hidden. I was moved by the acceptance of injury as part of the object’s life rather than the end of it, and by extension, the acknowledgment that we need to recognize personal and societal wounds to mend.
I applied this practice of Kintsugi to photographs printed on rice paper. I tore the prints and then put them back together, sewing them with embroidery thread and fragments from other torn prints. The repaired photographs were dipped in an encaustic beeswax medium creating a translucent skin-like texture. Each resulting photograph became a layered material object containing a process of transformation from injury to repair.