14 July 2016

Relics Scroll 7: Time Heals All Wounds


For my RELICS exhibit, I made ten scrolls bearing American English platitudes that could be construed to have philosophical or spiritual meanings. See all of the scroll posts here.
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"Time heals all wounds" they say. I was nursing some fresh wounds as I made this work, having just lost Ty, my 13 year old labrador retriever. At the moment I post this, 33 days have passed since we euthanized him. That's certainly not enough time for the wounds to be healed, and part of me doesn't even want healing. I want to remember. I want to remember the sensation of patting Ty's head or throwing my arms around him, I want to remember how his face seemed to smile at me whenever I came into the room. I think at best time fades all wounds, and there's some sorrow even in the fading.

Many of the Psalms in the Bible's Old Testament are lamentations, people crying out in pain and grief. I chose a few words of lamentation from Psalm 39 and wrote them in my own voice along the edges of the stream of dots:
Help me Lord, hear my prayer
 Tech notes: The background is a woodblock monoprint on an uncarved block, the circles are stamped with a hand-carved rubber eraser stamp, large text was stenciled and small text rubber stamped.

3 comments:

Olga Norris said...

You have my deepest condolences. I know the double grief of having to put a loyal companion to death.

Thank you for this information series on your hangings. It is most illuminating. I love the way you visualise, use words and symbols, and present layers of meaning. It is such a delight to encounter such a rich use of language in this day of abbreviation.

Leslie Moore said...

Great pictures of Tye--young and old. And a great tribute to him in your beautiful scroll. Our best friends just don't live long enough, do they!

Annie B said...

Thank you both for your condolences. And for your kind words about this scroll! xo Annie