This work was inspired by my own experiences of grief.

Because I have experienced grief as having a disorienting quality, I chose to construct this three-dimensional sculpture using a nineteenth-century technique known as "crazy quilting." The drab palette expresses what I have experienced as grief’s draining of color from my life. Mary’s vacant form gives visual expression to my own experiences of feeling bereft, emptied of all that gives life meaning and purpose. I imagine Mary as having experienced similar manifestations of grief — and yet still finding the courage to be fully present to her Son and to the suffering ones of every time and place.

This work was constructed from black rayon fabric from which I selectively removed the dye. It was embellished with improvisational stitching and an organza shroud, which I selectively burned. An earlier version of this work was juried into Highly Favored: Contemporary Images of the Virgin Mary, a mixed-media traveling exhibit sponsored by Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA).